


Life as a Nukenin

by JKblue



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Dimension, Angst, Crack, Disguise, Time Travel, Trolling, i'll add more later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:08:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 55
Words: 26,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22964428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JKblue/pseuds/JKblue
Summary: Kakashi wakes up in an alternate dimension .....shenanigans ensue
Comments: 3249
Kudos: 2459





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Nukenin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2469131) by [WhisperingDarkness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhisperingDarkness/pseuds/WhisperingDarkness). 
  * Inspired by [Nidaime Otokage](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13791165) by [DuskBeforeDawn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuskBeforeDawn/pseuds/DuskBeforeDawn). 



Life as a Nukenin

Kakashi wakes up with a pounding head, low chakra and shock running through his system.

He's supposed to be dead. He'd felt the killing blow. He'd seen the wide eyes of his precious students as the jutsu had torn through him. He's supposed to be dead.

So why is he sitting in the formerly destroyed lands of River Country, with a headache, and what looks to be a dead group of ROOT hunter nin not five feet away?

…

When Kakashi finally gets up the strength to go bath off in a nearby river he freezes when his reflection shows him something else that is wrong.

There is a slash through his head band.

There is a slash through his Konoha headband.

What the hell??!!!

After that Kakashi spends the rest of the day in a panic induced frenzy where he goes through the ROOT bodies, stripping them of all weapons, rations, and anything he deems useful.

It's when he's doing this that he finds a Bingo book.

His own face is on page thirteen.


	2. Are you ok?

Are you ok?

Kakashi spends a week just absorbing the fact that he has been thrown into an alternate dimension. An alternate dimension that’s years behind his own in fact.

Then another week finding out what's different about this world verses his previous one.

The answer is…not much. This worlds Kakashi had been a missing nin going on two years, but other than that nothing changed. Kiri is still in civil war, Ame has still cut themselves off from the outside world, and the Uchiha massacre had already happened.

He thinks his new body is maybe 26 years old, versus the almost 40 it had been. So that’s a bonus, sort of.

He looks for any news about his past self in this dimension and finds surprisingly little.

It's only after he summons Pakkun that he gets anywhere really. Apparently, his alternate self had took the term 'going to ground' literally.

Looking around the cave Kakashi can say he's not at all impressed. It looks like all his alternate self did was sit in here and let himself get eaten up by guilt. Not that Kakashi of now can say he did any better in his own time, but he had Gai to constantly drag him out of his funk.

"Boss?" Pakkun called curiously and Kakashi looked down at the friend that had stayed by his side through thick and thin…until the end.

"Hmmm?"

"Are you ok?" the pug asked and Kakashi's first response is to say he's fine…but …but…he's just lost his genin, (or they lost him depending on your view point) he's in a world that is but isn't his, in a body that may not be his. In a time that is years behind his own. He's just fought in a war where Obito was first his enemy, then his friend (then dead). He's stood up to a goddess, and commanded troops of the five great nations. He's been killed and brought back by Pain. He's lost his home twice over now and he's woke up in an alternate universe as a missing nin.

"….I don't think I am Pakkun…I don’t think I have been for a while." He answers into the silence. The pug doesn't say anything just crawls into his lap and cuddles close. Kakashi wraps his arms around his small companion and they both fall into a comfortable silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all the Kudos on the first chapter, and your sweet comments too.
> 
> This chapter is a little angsty but I promise we'll get to the happy part soon.


	3. Evening Rain

Kakashi's been traveling through the land of rivers at a slow meandering pace with Pakkun and the pack at his side. Trying to both find peace with this new development and figure out a plan for the future.

Currently he's in some town called ‘Evening Rain’ sitting at an outdoor tea shop. Pakkun is on the bench next to him but the rest of the pack are sprawled out on the ground enjoying the nice weather.

Apparently, his past self never summoned them unless it was at night or in the cave. Which says a lot about the others mental state.

"E--excuse me." A little voice pipes up and Kakashi turns his head to look at a very nervous village girl who’s staring at him with apprehension and hope in her eyes. She can't be older than twelve, with short brown hair and bright green eyes, it makes Kakashi think of Rin and Sakura. ( He misses them both so very much.)

"Yes?" he asks evenly then watches as the girl visibly gathers her courage once more.

"A-are you a-a tracker?" she asks but her eyes don't rise any higher than his knees, trying to keep all the dogs in her sight.

"Yes." He answers not giving any more information until he knows what the little girl wants. Some of the other villages have started to take notice now and Kakashi is not sure is there worried about him or worried for the little girl, probably both.

Speaking of her…She seems to have an internal debate with herself before taking a deep breath and finally looking Kakashi in the face.

"My little sister went missing. I'll pay you if you can find her." She finally says, green eyes full of determination as she holds out a little purse of coins. Kakashi looks her over again, seeing Rin in her protective stance and Sakura in her stubborn brow, and really how can he say no.

"…do you have any item with her scent on it? And when did she go missing?" he asks and watches as the girls eyes widen in disbelief before she reaches into her backpack and pulls out a doll. Passing it to him over Shiba's head.

"She was out picking berries when the storm came through. That was umm five days ago." He nods at the information as he stands, a low whistle has his pack quickly gathering at his feet. He lets them get a good sniff of the dolls and they all go running off as he strolls out of the village towards the woods, the girl right on his heels.

An hour later Kakashi's pack finds the little sister stuck in a gully. She'd been surviving off of berries and a small creek nearby.

A little chakra walking up the steep sides and the sisters where safe in each other's arms as he walks them back to the village.

Absently Kakashi thinks Rin and Sakura would be proud of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the comments and kudos, they make me really happy. :D
> 
> Kakashi's healing a little bit with the packs help even if they don't have the full story, just having them near lets Kakashi know that he's not alone. 
> 
> But Kakashi has no idea the snowball effect this one little tracking mission is about to have :D 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!


	4. Jobs

"Shinobi-san?" a voice called as Kakashi sat once more at the tea house with his dogs, this time with the addition of the two sisters (he had no idea why they thought he was kid friendly but the pack liked them so he let them stay.)

"Yes?" he asked the nervous looking young man.

"umm I was wondering if you I could umm hire you to find somebody." the boy said nervously.

"oh? Who?"

"The man who robbed my house last night. Umm I can pay you back with the money he took" The boy looked more nervous even as he said this but Kakashi rose from his seat, whistled his pack into attention then told the boy to lead the way.

Two hours later Kakashi was back at the tea house this time with the girls, the boy, and the boy's siblings all in tow. 

After that a pattern started to develop. A nervous child would ask him for help, usually to find a lost person/ object (one toddler asked him to get his toy off his mom's roof), offer him payment (mostly coins but a few times he got candy) and later join him at his table outside the tea house.

They keep themselves entertained and the pack liked looking after the little pups so he didn’t see the harm. In fact, it looked like the towns people where using him as an unofficial daycare.

When the number of kids got to be in the nearly triple the packs size Kakashi received his first request from someone over sixteen.

"I heard you ninja can use magic and make water." The gruff old man stated as he stared at Kakashi over the gaggle of kids and dogs.

"It's not magic but we can do it."

"Hmmm…"

And that’s how Kakashi started using C-rank jutsu to water the local fields and increased his clientele to the adult population.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all your comments and kudos (Hearts)
> 
> And yes the town are in fact using him as an unofficial daycare, it helps that he stays out in the open and the dogs are really happy to see their boss having positive human contact.


	5. Traveling

Chap 5

"BYE KAKASHI-SAMA!!"

Yelled the little crowd of villagers as he left with the traveling merchant who hired his services. He waved back lazily and pulled the hood of the travel cloak over his head, a nice gift from the village head man after all of Kakashi's help. It was also a good way to keep his identity hidden for a bit.

Traveling with the merchants was slow but Kakashi had nowhere to be and could meander along as much as he liked. At first the merchants of the caravan seemed a little weary of him but a week later he somehow found himself carrying a toddler on his shoulders and surrounded by the eight children that traveled with the group.

How did he get into this mess?

"Kakashi-san?" one of the women called.

"Yes Hanamura-san?"

"One of the horses fell in a ditch we were hoping you could get it out."

"Be right there." He said as he passed the toddler off to one of the older kids.

Seconds later he was using his 'ninja strength' to pull the animal out and onto solid ground. A few appreciative whistles and complements later and Kakashi was back at the head of the caravan in just enough time to stop a bandit from grabbing one of the younger children.

"Really now Bandit-san that's rather rude to jump out and kidnap children for leverage like that." He chided the man, before using a shunshin to get behind the man and knock him out.

When the other bandits saw Kakashi's Hitai-ate they dropped their weapons and ran.

"That was sooooo cool!" the child (Momiji? Momo? Maybe?) exclaimed, right before his mother came to scoop him up to check for injuries.

The trip continued in a similar pattern until they neared the Konoha-Suna border.

That's when Kakashi ran into a spot of trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep time for Kakashi to move on for a bit  
> Kakashi's gotten use to kids in his personal bubble, so he didn't realize they were slowly creeping closer and closer until they were literally on top of him. lol   
> The parents are ok with it cause they heard great things about the free baby-sitting from the village lol
> 
> hope you all enjoy and thanks so much for the comments and kudos :D


	6. Confrontation

Aoba, Genma and Raido are making plans on how to attack the caravan when Kakashi's shadow clone finds them.

Their mission seems to be to kill the head of the caravan so the supplies don’t make it to Suna. They know there is a missing ninja guarding the caravan because of the rumor from the bandits, but they think he's low or high chunin.

Kakashi has a moment of panic where he's not sure if he should let them complete their mission for the sake of Konoha, or stop them for the sake of the caravan.

Ten minutes later he finds himself stalling the three Konoha ninja while the caravan finds cover.

Kakashi doesn't use any high level jutsu and stays within the C-rank range so the collateral damage is minimum.

(After being in a world where there was more barren land then trees the copy-nin has come to appreciate nature a little more)

He ends up tackling Genma into Raido and using the senbon specialist as a shield against Aoba's birds. Twisting out of that was a feat even Kakashi isn't sure how he managed, much less while keeping Genma as his hostage. The fact his cloak stayed on through the whole maneuver is simply shear dumb luck on his part.

A quick swipe and he has Genma's weapon pouch in hand. If he remembers right the ones wrapped in orange are the deadly poisons, the green are hallucinogenic and blue are mild knock out ones.

He tests a blue one on one of Aoba's birds just to be sure, before jumping back into the fray.

Shortly later Aoba and Raido are knocked out with multiple Senbon (must have had a little immunity to the poison) and Genma is standing over them looking like a pincushion with an expression of panic on his face. Probably realizing just how bad they'd underestimated the situation.

"Who the hell are you?" He asks in desperation.

"Maa just a man lost on the road of life." Kakashi answers and Genma does not look happy by that answer but continues with the stalling tactic anyway, probably in hopes that the poison will wear off.

"What do you want?"

"Simply to protect the caravan. I have no intention of harming you." Genma snorts at that, then looks pointedly at the dozens of needles sticking out of his own arm.

"Yeah right."

"Maa it's true. You attacked first and I've only used your own methods against you."

"Those senbon are poisoned and you know it."

"You'd have to have immunity to your own poison to carry it and I used the blue ones anyway Genma-san." The other man stiffens at that, he's not worried about Kakashi calling his name because Aoba already made that mistake. No, what he's worried about is how this mysterious man in a cloak knew what color he used for his mild poison.

"Show yourself!" Genma demands, so Kakashi pulls the hood down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now Konoha pops up   
> Poor Genma Raido and Aoba were not prepared for their mission to turn into an S-rank 
> 
> Thank you all for the lovely Comments and Kudos (and extra kudos :D) !!!
> 
> Please be safe out there you guys! I hope you are all well!


	7. We Survived

The color drained out of Genma's face as he finds himself faced with one of Konoha’s most powerful missing ninja.

The copy-cat ninja has been playing with them. And while Genma had known that before, it was completely different than knowing that his opponent could have used a lighting fist to grab his heart from his chest at any moment in the fight.

"maa Are you done fighting me now Genma-san?" the man asks and has the nerve to eye smile at him like they've simply been having a spar.

"And if I am?" he asks warily. This man is nothing like the smart-ass kid he remembers from his youth, nor is he like the broken man who hid behind an ANBU mask.

"Then we can both go our own ways."

"Raido and Aoba?"

"Are your responsibility."

Genma takes a deep breath, then does something that makes his skin crawl and his hackles rise.

He turns his back on his opponent.

Then he picks up his downed comrades and he _runs_.

As fast as he can, to get as far as he can, from this messed up mission.

It's nearly an hour later when Aoba and Raido come around, and he's never been happier to hear his friends complain about having a headache.

Now he just has to go home and inform the Hokage that the copy-ninja has finally crawled out of whatever hole he was hiding in. To borrow a term from the Nara, this is going to be "troublesome".

***

Raido had thought he was dead when he finally passed out from the poison during the fight. But he woke up with only a headache and minor wounds. The worst of which came from being tackled with Genma in tow, how the man got out of that while holding the senbon specialist and fending off Aoba's birds Raido would pay to know.

When Raido heard who was under the cloak he tried to dispel a genjutsu because there was no way they survived an encounter with one of Konohas most unstable ninja, one that not even the hunter ninja had been able to find in two years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was suppose to be all Genma's pov but Raido managed to sneak in at the end there lol 
> 
> As always thank you so much for the Comments and Kudos (and extra Kudos) they make my day brighter :D 
> 
> Please stay safe you guys


	8. Little sand monster

Kakashi left the caravan at the gates of Suna with the gate guards eyeing him warily the entire time. He stood politely still as the children surrounded him with a large group hug and took off the second he collected his pay (plus bonus, apparently the women had pitched together to make him a travel pack).

Then he headed off into the sand dunes.

Or, he would have if the sand didn’t decide to try and catch him.

A look around proved exactly what Kakashi had expected.

Garra stood not 10 feet away, hand outstretched and eyes wide and blood shot. Kakashi mildly wondered when the last time the boy got any sleep was.

A shushin put him next to the tiny child and Kakashi scoops him up and throws him over his shoulder before pouring on the speed.

If he was going to fix the seal he was not going to do it just outside Suna's gates.

Seconds later Kakashi found a familiar looking cave and placed the tiny red head down before speedily pulling out a brush and some ink. Dodging sand while in a cave and trying to make a knock out seal with his bad hand writing was not what he had planned on doing for the day.

Sadly, this still didn’t make it into the top ten most suicidal things he'd ever done.

Later, after he fixes the seal as best he can (and really Chiyo a _Storage seal_?!) he wakes the young red head.

"Hello Gaara, my names Hatake Kakashi."

"What have you done with mother?"

"Ah, I'm afraid that wasn't your mother Gaara but the One-tails. I'll tell you more about it later but first I'd like to be your friend."

"…No one wants to be my friend. I'm a monster."

"Only because people have made you into one. You don’t have to be like that anymore. I can help…I don’t think you’re a monster."

"Even Yashamaru thought I was a monster."

"..oh Gaara, Yashamaru cared about you very much. He only attacked you because he was ordered to."

"What?" the little red head asked, confusion and loss filling his voice.

So Kakashi filled the day telling him stories he had heard from the little boys' future self.

When the sun began to set the Copy-nin gently picked Gaara up and lead him back home.

"You'll come back right?"

"Of course Gaara-chan. I'll see you soon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Speed is Gaara's weakness so Kakashi takes advantage of that and stays ahead of the sand long enough to add to the old seal. It wont be as good as Minato's but it'll be enough to stop Shukaku for a while.
> 
> Thank you guys for all the positive Comments and Kudos (and extra Kudos).  
> You guys are the BEST!  
> Oh yeah and HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!  
> Please stay healthy and safe.
> 
> Grammar Edit: thanks to Foodmoon and Fly_by_night for pointing it out, I appreciate the help


	9. Checking in

It was almost two weeks later when Kakashi decided he should check in on his genin.

Entering Konoha was easy, all he needed was a brown wig and some purple face paint, and Sukea was walking down the streets of Konoha, camera in hand.

He found Sakura first, shopping with her mother as they went down the main street. He took a quick picture and moved on. Adding random shots in so he wouldn’t seem suspicious.

Sasuke was next, walking on a secluded street, a bag of tomatoes in hand. Kakashi followed him for a bit but turned before the Uchiha district came into sight. No need to interfere with his cloud of doom and gloom, at least, not yet.

Naruto,….. Naruto found him.

Sukea had been sitting on a park bench looking threw his photos when the blond came up to him.

"Hey what are doing?"

"Maa looking at my pictures."

"Can I see?"

"Only if I can have a picture of you in exchange. I have to make a living you know. " He said with a smile. He could feel the ANBU guards nearby and made sure to keep a tight leash on his chakra.

"How can you make a living taking pictures?"

"Some people like pictures of the scenery, others like pictures of famous people."

"You think I'm famous?" the blond asks a little confused.

"hmm maybe not yet, but who knows, maybe someday you will be." He answers with a shrug and a smile.

Kakashi's made a mental note to submit pictures to a calendar contest and maybe a few bingo book entrees so he didn’t rouse any suspicion. Shouldn’t be too hard everyone loved pics of the Hokage Monument.

Naruto seems to have gotten over his shock of having a person not hate him at first sight and loudly proclaims,

"Of course, I'll be famous someday, I'M GOING TO BE HOKAGE. BELIEVE IT!"

Sukea smiles again and can't help the fond look that enters his eyes at the happy blond.

"Alright then future hokage stand back a little and pose for me." He instructed and Naruto jumps to comply.

A click of the camera and he has pictures of all three of his genin.

"Let me see. Let me see."

"Maa, here you are future Hokage…your picture. Maybe they'll even use it for your Bingo book page." He joked.

"What's a bingo book?" Naruto askes confused.

Ah, Kakashi had forgotten how lacking Naruto's knowledge had been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep Kakashi uses his Sukea disguise and skips through Konoha in broad daylight lol  
> Don't worry Kakashi will be popping in on Gaara again too.
> 
> You guys are amazing!  
> Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments and Kudos (and extra kudos and heart) they make my day.


	10. Goodbye's and hello's

Chap 10

Kakashi's stays for three more days.

Naruto finds him again on the last one and he takes more pictures of the excited blond and even joins him at the Ramen stand. Teuchi and his daughter willingly pose for a picture with large smiles on their faces.

(Later Sukea will put the picture and a short ad detailing his experience in the local paper. The tiny article will be cut out by Ayame and hung on the wall)

He says goodbye and tells the blonde he'll be back in a few months.

He's stalled at the gate while the chunin look threw his pictures. The only one that’s an issue is a close up of Sasuke eating a tomato.

"I thought it looked cute, I wasn't really planning on selling it." Is his defense. They take that picture but let him keep the rest, this surprisingly includes a few blurry pictures of high level jonin and a few chunin. (He's really surprised they let him keep some of the ones of Naruto, but from their position it looks like he's an outsider and has no knowledge of the nine tails host.)

He doesn't question his good luck, simply smiles, thanks the gate guards, and goes on his way.

If he's left Danzo with a few nasty surprises and freed a couple of Root nin before he left… well it's not like anyone is going to suspect the photographer now is it.

***

It isn't long before he finds himself back near Suna's borders and hunting down Gaara.

This time with his weary pack at his side as he introduces them to the young red head.

The visit is kind of awkward and the dogs don't really like the desert much but Gaara seems delighted by them.

He stays the day and shows Gaara the pictures he's taken. The red head seems fascinated that there can be that much green in the world.

When the sun starts getting low he takes Gaara back to the gate and the guards tense and eye him warily, but no one wants to draw a weapon near the 'unstable' jinchuuriki.

He waves to them merrily and turns to leave when he realizes they’ve seen past his traveling cloak, but someone calls his name from inside the village.

"KAKASHI-SAMA!"

Is proceeded by three civilian children running out the gate. They pass by Gaara, who wearily eyes them but makes no move to attack or even draw on his sand, and straight into Kakashi's legs.

The copy-nin blinks and gently pats the vaguely familiar little ones on their heads. They giggle and then start pestering him with questions.

"Where have you been?"

"Why did you leave?"

"Will you be traveling with us again?"

Luckily Kakashi is rescued from his mini-interrogators by a man coming to the gate and calling the children back. It's only then he recognizes the head of the caravan that Aboa, Genma and Raido had been sent to kill.

"Ah Kakashi-san it is good to see you again."

"Maa you as well Takashi-san, I see Suna has given you a bit of a tan."

The merchant just laughs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not quite sure the chapter title fits but it was close enough and im feeling a little lazy.  
> Pakkun has very soft paws, he does not like getting sand stuck to his very soft paws lol.  
> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for all the happy Comments and Kudos and all your wonderful support. I really appreciate it.  
> Please stay safe out there.  
> Grammar Edit : thanks to Foodmoon and Fly_by_night for pointing it out, I appreciate the help


	11. Twitchy sand ninja

Chap 11

"Will you be guarding us again Kakashi-san? I'm certain I can pay you well. " Takashi asked and Kakashi can see the sand-ninja wince. They were probably hoping the caravan would hire one of their teams, and really sand did need help with missions.

"Maa Takashi-san, you didn't hire a Sand-nin?"

"hmm we were thinking about it but well…." He trails off uncertainly and Kakashi takes a chance and peeks his head around one of the twitchy gate guards (who’s eyes go very wide at the close proximity of a missing nin) to see the caravan. They don’t look quite ready to depart yet but Kakashi bets they'll be out by tomorrow.

He also knows that suna nin have a bit of a reputation as being weaker, it doesn't help that their own Daimyo hires leaf nin more often than his own shinobi.

"The caravan looks bigger this time." Kakashi adds lightly.

"hm? Oh yes we joined with another heading to Taki." Probably for protection instead of hiring the sand ninja. Kakashi hadn't realized it was quite this bad for Suna, maybe he can help them out a bit.

"Ah, well I don’t mind working with you again but with a larger group it will be more difficult. However, if you want to hire a man named Baki I'm not opposed to teaming up with him." The guards actually twitch at the name and surprisingly it's not the merchant who asks about the man, but Gaara.

"Baki?" it's said as a question and Kakashi wonders if the little red head already knows about his future teacher.

"Yep, he's at least jonin level and a wind user. He does this neat trick with invisible blades." The gate guards look even twitchier, it's kinda funny but Kakashi knows better than to laugh right then. He can see one of them flipping through a Bingo book in the back ground and has to look away when the guy finds his page. Man, he hasn’t had entertainment this good in a while.

"You know Baki-san?" another guard asks the doubt in his voice clear.

"He's a fierce opponent." Kakashi answers and eye smiles at them just to see them twitch more, the poor guy with the bingo book has gone a very interesting shade of pale. White is not the poor man’s color.

Takashi interrupts before anything else can happen though and totally agrees to look into getting Baki if Kakashi agrees to be there in the morning.

He does and then leaves with a pat to Garra's head and a wave to the twitchy gate guards.

Ah messing with people is so much fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep Sand has finally figured out who the guy is that's hanging around their crazy jinchuriki (but they still haven't figured out that Gaara has a new seal)  
> Next chapter poor Baki makes an appearance 
> 
> THANK YOU GUYS FOR ALL YOUR WONDERFUL COMMENTS AND KUDOS  
> I know some places are no longer under quarantine but please still take precautions while your out and about.


	12. Hello Baki

Chap 12

Baki had heard the story of how a missing Konoha ninja had told the Caravan to hire him.

He just didn’t believe it until now.

"Maa Baki-san it's good to see you're not late." The copy-nin said like it was an inside joke. The man’s traveling cloak has been pulled back and his scratched head-band is on full display.

Baki takes a second to brace himself and meet the other man's visible eye.

"Good morning Hatake-san, It's good to see you are on time as well." The other man actually laughs a little at that.

It's setting Baki on edge.

The fact that an S-rank missing nin is the one who is basically in charge of this mission is bad.

What's worse is that this could be a trap to get rid of Suna's best wind user.

Unfortunately, Suna can't really afford to turn this mission down and on the slim chance this isn't a trap it may show the caravan leaders that Suna can be relied upon for more escort missions.

"How would you like to perform this mission Hatake-san?" he asks hoping against hope that the crazy idiot who made friends with Suna's psychotic jinchuuriki won't slit his throat in the middle of the night.

********

Three weeks in and Baki still can't get over the fact that the children of the caravan are using an S-rank missing nin as a jungle gym. The copy-nin just strides along like there's not a child attached to each leg and at least three more hanging onto his torso and arms. They only climb on Baki when 'Kakashi-sama' says it's ok, and the man only lets them do it after they've settled camp for the night and the traps are all in place.

The children aren't the only ones fond of the missing-nin either, every night at least two women bring Hatake food and tell him he's 'far too skinny' and ‘needs more meat on those bones’. Most times they give some to Baki too, probably just to be polite (but since he's crap at making field food, he's really grateful.)

At this point Baki's pretty sure he doesn't have to worry about the missing nin killing him until they've delivered the caravan to Taki. But the more he's around the man, the more he questions the guys sanity.

The guy goes around reading women's romance novels for crying out loud.

***

Kakashi puts his book over his face and leans against the branch he's chosen as his sleeping place. The book is nowhere near as good as Jiraiya’s Ichi Ichi but it's something. He'd been getting desperate for anything remotely smutty when Rukia jokingly offered one of her romance novels to him. It was worth accepting it just to see the look on Baki's face when he saw him with it later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Kakashi is letting the kids climb all over him again, but he also has the pack out on alert just in case.   
> Yes Baki is freaking out   
> Yes the sweet little ladies of the caravan have decided to collectively mother Kakashi and tentatively Baki too lol 
> 
> THANK YOU guys all for the amazing comments and kudos i'm so glad you all enjoyed Kakashi trolling the sand ninja lol   
> Please remember to stay safe out there   
> oh and sorry this is a bit late, i mean im still in my, self-allotted deadline but way later than i usually post so sorry about that


	13. Interruption

Chap 13

They do fine until they hit the outer edge of Suna's border.

Kakashi sends his pack out on patrol as soon as he sees signs that there might be an ambush ahead but he honestly wasn't expecting a band of missing nin to try jumping them. There are three from rock, two from grass and the last one is from Kumo.

Baki instantly calls up his chakra and has his wind blades at the ready, setting in a defensive stance near the caravan while Kakashi jumps forward to engage the enemy.

He manages to takes out the two probably low chunin level grass ninja almost immediately. But then he’s faced with the Kumo and Rock ninja who set him on the defensive before the Rock nin slip past his guard in a move that has Kakashi admiring their teamwork and cursing it as well.

This leaves Kakashi alone with the Kumo nin.

The Kumo nin who is, of course, a lightning user that holds a chakra conductive blade. Kakashi calls up a chidori and, in a move that surprises both of them, manages to cuts through the lightning blade and it's user in one go.

He turns in time to see Baki taking out one of the rock nin with an unseen wind blade and then the other one with a kuni and puppet string trick, but not before an earth jutsu was used to smash one of the carts, taking the poor horse with it.

When Kakashi sees the last Rock ninja going for the children he sees red.

Then in a move that would make Naruto proud he makes a quick shadow clone in order to get in front of, and behind the man, cutting off his escape right before cutting off his head.

He waits a few seconds to make sure there are no more attacks then turns to the caravan.

"Baki status!" he demands, and the sand ninja answers immediately.

"No wounded that I see but we did lose a horse and a cart full of dry goods."

"Good." Then after a minute. "I knew it was the right idea to have you along." He adds with an eye smile.

The sand ninja gives him a startled look but it smooths over a second later and he starts putting the dead enemies in body scrolls.

"Takashi-san is everyone alright?" he asks the Caravan leader, Baki didn't see anything but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

"Yes we're fine Ari-chan skinned her knee but that’s the worst of it." He replies, motioning to were the young girl is being held by her mother.

"THAT IS NOT THE WORST OF IT!" a voice yells and Kakashi turns to see one of the more annoying merchants make his way over.

"HALF MY MERCHANDISE WAS BLOWN UP THANKS TO YOU!" the man yells red faced at Baki who simply stands where he is with hands curled into fists at his side. Kakashi does a quick body flicker and places himself in front of the angry man who jumps back startled at the sudden presence before him. 

"Maa merchant-san perhaps you should be thankful that it was not you who was blown up." He replies mildly and watches the pale man gulp before rallying himself.

"ARE YOU THREATENING ME?!"

"No merchant-san, merely pointing out that if Baki-san hadn't been here you wouldn't be either." The words were said lightly but Kakashi made sure the man saw murder in his eyes. When the idiot paled further and backed away Kakashi simply smiled at him before pulling out his latest novel and walking to the head of the caravan once more.

"It's about time someone took Ito down a few pegs." He heard another merchant mutter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im so sorry I almost forgot to post this today, but in my defense.....ummm actually i have no defense opps.
> 
> And don't worry about Ito he's actually a scumbag who's been stealing others merchants goods and passing them off as his own. He hasn't tried anything with Kakashi and Baki around but he has been harassing the women and making snide remarks about the men... so yeah nobody likes him.
> 
> But WOW THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH for such a positive response last chapter!  
> It was amazing to open my inbox and find so many nice comments and Kudos (and extra kudos :D) And sorry if it took me a few days to respond to comments but please know that I really appreciate all the love and encouragement and i'm so glad so many people are enjoying this fic. You all are truly amazing and I can't thank you enough (Hearts)


	14. Baki's report

Chap 14

Kakashi leaves the merchants in Taki with a wave and a group hug from the children. He laughs when Baki gets subjected to one too. Then he takes off with hot springs in mind. All this sand makes him miss water.

***

Baki returns to Suna in full health and with a new respect for a certain Konoha missing nin. (and a romance novel in his pocket)

The merchants have also made inquiries about future guard missions from Suna.

***

Rasa listens to Baki's report as his eyebrows climb steadily higher.

"He treats the civilian children like he treats his ninken but they adore him. Even to the point they used him as a human jungle gym. The adults have no problem with this and even encourage the children. The ladies brought food because, and I quote, 'he's far too skinny and needs more meat on his bones'.

When we were attacked, he proved just how he earned that S-rank. I saw him cut through a lightning charged blade and his opponent in one move. The man moved like his chidori and took out three opponents before I'd even engaged one and then performed an A-rank technic to trap the last one before cutting of his head with a kuni.

Additionally, when one of the merchants became angry with me because his merchandise was destroyed the copy-nin placed himself between the merchant and I. Then began to very calmly let the man know that he could have joined his merchandise."

When Baki admits that the romance novel the missing nin gave him isn't that bad the Kazakage is glad for his face mask.

***

When Konoha later make an inquiry about Hatake Kakashi being in Suna territory Rasa sends them a very strongly worded letter letting them know that one of their 'missing-nin' has been more helpful for Suna missions than Konoha itself has in years.

***

When the Hokage reads the letter, he puts his pipe down, then calls a council meeting because they are now running the risk of their 'ally' taking the side of a very powerful missing nin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU ALL so much for your wonderful comments and kudos  
> You all are so wonderfully encouraging and im so glad so many of you are enjoying Kakashi's great adventure lol 
> 
> Next stop Konoha (^_^)


	15. Back to Konoha

Chap 15

Sukea is back in Konoha with his camera in hand and headed to the ramen shop. He submitted a picture of Baki to the admin office and is going to use his little pay check to pay for lunch. (and if he happens to run into a certain blonde while he's there, well…)

Sure enough Naruto's there, but the blonde isn't being his loud usual self and seems to only be picking at his ramen today.

"Why the long face?" he asks a little concerned as he slides in beside the kid.

Blue eyes look up at him, then light up in recognition.

"Sukea!!"

"Hey there Naruto. How have you been?"

"um oh I've been fine." The blond replies but does not meet Sukea's eyes.

"hmmm really?" Kakashi uses the full view of his face to give the blonde a disbelieving look.

"…..I failed the genin test again." The blonde finally grumbles out and Kakashi remembers the report on how many times the kid tried and failed before as well.

"oh? Is this your second time trying?"

"….my sixth." The blonde admits reluctantly.

That means he only has one more left before Mizuki tricks him into stealing the scroll. Hmm Kakashi could let that happen, let the boy overcome the obstacle on his own and realize that Iruka-sensei believed in him.

…or he could change it up a bit.

"What parts are you having trouble with?" he asks mildly and nods as Ayame puts a bowl of eggplant ramen in front of him. He smiles a little at the fact that they remembered his order from last time.

"Everything." Naruto says with a heavy sigh. Kakashi's not used to seeing the boy so down. It tugs at his hearts strings.

"hmmm tell you what. After we eat why don’t me and you go to the training grounds ok."

"Really? But wait you're not a ninja."

“Nope. I'm a photographer but I did attend the academy when I was younger and I take pictures of ninja all the time, so at least I can tell you if your stance is wrong."

"you mean you'll help me?"

"yep"

"Alright! This is gonna be awesome Believe it!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this ones a little short guys,I have plans for next chapter tho and I just needed Kakashi and Naruto to be in place for it. If all goes well I may even post it on Wednesday.
> 
> Yes Kakashi has a plan.....Hiruzen is not going to like this plan....At ALL.
> 
> As always THANK YOU all for your amazing comments and kudos(and extra kudos). I really appreciate all your support and I'm so happy you'er all enjoying Life as a Nukenin.
> 
> Edit: Thanks to 'House_of_Meme' for correcting some of my spelling I really appreciate it


	16. Helping Hand

Chap 16

Sukea does, in fact, correct a few of Naruto's stances and runs through a few traps. But as a civilian there's not much he can do for the boy, and the next graduation test isn't too far away.

However, that doesn't mean he can't help the boy a little bit in another way.

…Like say, dressing up in a mask and cloak and blowing up a Root base as a distraction while he nabs the forbidden scroll and a conveniently placed Naruto as a hostage.

If the 'mysterious enemy ninja' just so happens to brag about his 'evil plan' to learn the shadow clone jutsu and multiply himself into an army… well that's just villain monologue 101. Then if he just so happens to be reading the scroll were the 'hostage' can see it, well hubris gets the best of everyone.

The first ones to find them are Mizuki and Iruka (he'd only set the trap for Iruka but having Mizuki there to let the metaphorical fox out of the bag works well too).

Iruka the protector that he is offers himself in Naruto's place and the blonde nearly cries.

Of course then Mizuki has to open his mouth and ruin the moment by announcing what Naruto is and telling the mysterious ninja to "go ahead and kill the little monster".

Naturally this results in the two teachers fighting, at first verbally, then physically.

Kakashi settles down and watches the show.

When Naruto joins in and pulls out his new skill at multiplying, well Kakashi figures his job is now done and disappears into the clone army.

***

Later when no one is looking and Mizuki has been sentenced to prison (for letting out an S-rank secret and trying to kill his fellow teacher) Kakashi quietly slits the man's throat. No need to worry about that jail break in the future.

***

Hiruzen looks at the blonde sleeping in the hospital chair by the chunnin teacher's side and let’s himself relax a little.

Today has been very stressful.

First there had been that explosion on the north side of the village that caused some major structural damage. That somehow turned out to be a still active ROOT base. (Hiruzen was not looking forward to that talk with Danzo.)

Then some mysterious ninja raids the Hokage tower and disappears with the forbidden scroll and the village jinchuriki in tow.

He had to call in chunnin to help because most of the jonin forces were working on clearing out the ROOT base of information while the none ROOT ANBU contained the ROOT nin. (yeah, Hirusen was very much not looking forward to that talk with Danzo.)

Of course then it turns out that one of the academy teachers that found the mysterious ninja was a traitor and tried to kill the loyal teacher and the jinchiriki. The scroll was damaged in the ensuing fight and to make matters worse the mysterious ninja was never found.

_I'm getting to old for this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiruzen is gonna have so many headaches lol  
> Don't worry Iruka's fine...Mizuki's not :D
> 
> wow last chapter got way more response than I was expecting.  
> THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!!


	17. Goodbye? Hello?

Chap 17

Kakashi stays in Konoha a few more weeks until Naruto takes his last exam and becomes a genin.

He ends up celebrating with the boy and Iruka at the ramen stand afterwards.

But it hurts too much to stay and watch his team 7 be given to someone else, so he leaves that afternoon.

Managing to snap a picture of Konoha's beautiful green beast before he gets to the gate.

The gate guard takes one look at the picture before flinching and looking at Sukea in slight betrayal. Considering the poor guard had been looking through peaceful village shoots before that Sukea thought it might be justified.

He still laughs at the guard's expression. It’s a shame that he still had Sukea's camera or he'd have snapped a picture of the poor guard for himself.

***

Kakashi finds himself outside Suna once again. This time Baki has joined Gaara in wondering around the sand dunes.

"Yo." He calls once he gets close enough to be heard without yelling.

"Good afternoon Hatake-san" Baki greets, Gaara right on his heels with his own greeting.

"Hi Kakashi-sensei"

The copy-nin stalls a little at that.

"Sensei?" he questions looking at Baki for more of an explanation.

"You have been teaching him haven't you?" the sand ninja asks, a skeptical eyebrow raised.

"maa I suppose I have but it's only the basic conditioning." He answers and tries to find out how he feels about this.

He can't teach team seven so he wasn't expecting to hear that word addressing him again. But now that he has heard it…well Gaara would make a cute student.

"That's still teaching Hatake-san. And speaking of, I was wondering if I could join you in your training today."

"hmm sure, as long as Gaara doesn't mind." He says, making sure to look at the little red head to emphasize the point and to ask him his opinion.

"I like Baki." Is the verdict and then the three of them race to the designated training ground.

Once there Kakashi starts going through the first stretches with the red head. Surprisingly Baki joins in, going along with the motions as if he and Kakashi are longtime friends doing simple training together.

It's suspicious.

Then it hits Kakashi.

"Maa Baki-san?"

"Yes Hataki-san."

"Was it the Kazekage's idea or yours?"

"Pardon?"

"To try and recruit me to join Suna. Who's idea?"

"I don't know what you’re talking about." The sand nin denies.

"hmmm So Gaara suddenly calling me sensei and you being friendly has nothing to do with the fact that I would make a strong ally if I joined your village?"

Baki is tellingly silent.

"It was a good try but right now I'm not sure I could take orders from your Kazekage. However, I will promise not to take missions or cause trouble for Suna knowingly as long as I can train Gaara whenever I drop in."

"Would you also be willing to exchange information?"

"hmm depends on what kind. If it's about Konoha probably not, but anything I have on Kiri is free game."

"I'll let the Kazekage know."

And they fall into silence, Gaara acting like the exchange didn’t even happen as they finish their work out and Kakashi teaches his cute little student a simple snare trap for small animal prey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Kakashi gets a little down that he cant have his genin (yet)  
> But Gaara's there to cheer him up.
> 
> THANK YOU all for the wonderful comments and kudos (and extra kudos). It seems like everyone enjoyed poor Hiruzen getting a headache lol
> 
> Edit: Thanks to '5upernova' and 'BlueSeraphos' for pointing out the misspelling in Kakashi's last name. I appreciate the help (^_^)


	18. Meeting New People

Chap 18

Kakashi is somewhere along the Taki border when he unexpectedly runs into a small group of four missing nin.

Everyone pulls out weapons and jumps into a defensive positions but no one makes the first move.

Kakashi simply stays on his branch, weapons at the ready until the woman with a scratched Grass headband huffs and drops her stance.

"Copy-nin Kakashi." She addresses him.

"Poison kiss Nana." He returns.

He's seen her in the bingo book recently and he fought her in his alternate past. He recalls her being a fierce opponent but she was more interested in escaping at the time than killing him, so they both survived. He remembers receiving word that grass hunter nin finally got the best of her, but he's not sure how.

"To what do we owe your unexpected visit?" she asks icily her blue eyes not leaving him as she tosses a lock of her green hair over her shoulder.

"I was just passing through, but I'm open for trading a bit of information." He responds lazily, though he hasn’t relaxed his stance at all yet.

Nana looks at her comrades who all give various signals to her unasked question. Ranging from a shrug, to a head shake, to a roll of the eyes.

"We accept your offer. But if you try to kill us know that there will be retaliation."

"Of course." He answers back and relaxes as much as he’s willing too, not all the way but enough to put the others more at ease. 

Then he joins them at the hastily abandoned fire and opens with,

"So what can you tell me about this organization called Akatsuki?"

***

A few hours later they've moved on from information exchange to telling the most outrageous situations they have ever found themselves in.

"So I'm sitting there like a nice little prisoner and the guy comes in raging drunk and decides I'm too pretty to be keep all tied up. He offers me a fresh change of clothes and supplies. Well at first I thought it was a trap right? But nope I walked out of there with all his weapons, food and anything I could carry. Including his previous bounty." A purple haired man by the name of Maki finishes his tale and Kakashi chuckles along with everyone else. He ideally wonders what happened to this man in his past dimension, but decides not to dwell on it.

Just as Nana begins a tale of her own something starts tickling Kakashi's senses.

"-and then the targets wife walks in-"

"Maa Nana-san I hate to interrupt but I think where about to have some very uninvited guests." He says over her (totally ignoring how he himself was an uninvited guest at the beginning of their meeting.)

It only took a second for the group to absorb his statement then everyone jumped, in seconds they were poised and ready for battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Kakashi has meet new people and yes they're all non-canon characters.   
> Kakashi is actually asking about Akatsuki for two reasons 1 to see how much the world currently knows about them and 2 to fill in what blanks he can while pretending that he's not giving out info on his enemy.
> 
> And OMG you guys that was amazing, I'm so glad so many of you enjoy Gaara calling Kakashi his sensei and Baki's response lol   
> Don't worry there'll be plenty of Gaara and team 7 in the future ;D
> 
> THANK YOU ALL so much for the wonderful response, reading all your comments made my day. I know it took a while to respond to some of them but know that I appreciate every one of them. Thank you all for the wonderful Kudos, and extra kudos and emoji's and best of all the encouragement. It means a lot to me.


	19. to help a friend?

Chap 19

Everyone is battle ready when a group of three come into the clearing.

"Whoa what's with the hostile reception?" one man askes and everyone relaxes their stance, well, except for Kakashi who still eyes them wearily and hangs back.

"Jeez Tsuna, you guys weren't scheduled to be back for another three days." Nana says, and Kakashi realized this group of missing ninja must actually be larger than he first thought.

"The guy offed himself before we got there." Was the annoyed retort.

"Dang it! That was our only target for months." Maki added, and the others curse under their breath.

"Maa trouble in paradise?" Kakashi asked and all eyes turned in his direction. The three new additions pulled out weapons but at a signal from Nana they put them away, although their weary expressions don’t fade.

“Nothing you need to worry about." Nana answered, her voice just this side of chilling.

"Maa maa I didn’t mean to be rude…But if your last member would come out now it'd put me more at ease." He responded back.

"last member?" the man called Tsuna asked, he looked so confused Kakashi actually double checked the spot that was still setting off his senses.

Yep it was still there. But if they did not have a fourth man on their squad then someone had been following them.

Kakashi would bet money that the same someone killed there target too.

Before anyone else makes a move Kakashi body flickers near the chakra presence and throws a Kuni with an attached paper bomb in their direction. Another body flicker puts him near Nana as the watching ninja fly's out of the bushes. One arm smoking and the other raised with a sword in hand.

Kakashi is happy to note that the small bomb only took out a few branches and not a whole tree. He’s seen enough deforestation to last him a lifetime after all.

Now that the others weare alerted to the intruder's presence Kakashi steps back and lets the other ninja handle it. He really doesn’t want to get in the way of friendly fire.

Not five minutes later the man is dead and Nana’s sending him a grateful look from where she’s being patched up by their medic.

When everyone has been looked over, including a very reluctant Kakashi, Nana announces its time to move camp. They need to get out of there in case the dead man has friends nearby.

"You coming with us Hatake?" Maki asks him and Kakashi is honestly tempted for a bit. He feels the deep longing for a pack again, but ultimately decides against it. There's no telling how this group would react to his exploits to Konoha and Suna, and he’s not taking any chances when it comes to his students. (even if they aren’t His right now)

"Maa not this time Maki-san."

"Suit yourself." The man replies and Kakashi leaves the missing ninja behind with a wave and a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only reason Kakashi let the medic check him over was because he saw her literally twist one of the others arms and it reminded him to much of Sakura for comfort lol  
> Oh and the reason the new guys didn't notice Kakashi was a combination of him being very good at going unnoticed and the stress of missing nin life catching up to them, which is way they didn't realize they were being followed either. 
> 
> THANK YOU ALL for the amazing comments and Kudos!!!   
> I know a lot of you were really curious to see if he was meeting any one important but nope just a random guy. 
> 
> Oh and friendly warning that the next few chapters might have a bit of Angst in them, not to much but I figure I should warn you.


	20. Visiting

Chap 20

Kakashi finds himself in the land of rivers and searches out the town of 'Evening Rain'.

He's just outside the town when a woman's voice calls out to him.

"Kakashi-sama, you're back!" she exclaims happily and the next thing Kakashi knows half the town has come forward to say hello.

He and the pack are once again seated outside the tea shop, this time surrounded by the towns people.

He's not sure what to do with the attention at first but then the children ask for a story and it's not hard to do. The more exaggerated the better it seems.

It's not long later when he get's his first request (By a toddler who lost there left shoe.) and the pattern starts all over again.

***

He stays for a week this time and moves on, much to the dismay of the townsfolk, but this place is not home. His home is Konoha, and he is no longer welcome there. It's a sobering thought.

Kakashi really wants to check on his genin…who are no longer his genin.

***

He goes to see Gaara instead.

The red-head is at the gates when he nears them and this time his siblings are with him and Baki.

"Yo." He calls and all four of them pass the twitchy gate guards and come toward him. Temari and Kankuro hang back behind Baki but Gaara approaches quickly for his customary pat on the head.

"Hi Kakashi-sensei." The little red head greets when it’s done.

"Hello Hatake-san, Gaara wanted to introduce you to his team." Baki opens with when Kakashi raises an eyebrow in his direction.

He looks down at Garra who is looking at him with a neutral expression.

In this dimension or the next Garra will always have one of the best poker faces Kakashi has ever seen.

"This is Temari and Kankuro." The once future kazekage reports dutifully.

"Maa it's nice to meet you both I'm Kakashi Hatake."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Hatake-sama." Tamari executes with a bow and then elbows Kankuro to do the same.

"Will the two of you be joining us in today's training?" he asks though he already knows the answer.

"If it's alright with you and Gaara, Hatake-sama." Temari politely replies and Gaara nods his acceptance before looking up at Kakashi once more.

It looks like Suna is trying to lure him in by giving him a genin team.

And the offer is so tempting.

He could walk back into Suna right now and tell them his condition for joining would be this team and they would give it to him.

He would have a team, a pack again.

….But they wouldn't be _his_ team.

He misses his genin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi's getting a little moody but don't worry it'll all work out in the end.
> 
> A few of you noticed the names from last chapter were from KHR and I confess to reading fics and then using the names lol.
> 
> As always THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE COMMENTS AND KUDOS!!!!  
> It's so nice to read what you all enjoy about the story or even just read a 'kudos' and know that you liked it. It makes writing this so much fun :D
> 
> Edit: Thank you to 'KenzieP' and 'AstaraelDarkrahBlack' for pointing out my misspelling of Hatake I really appreciate ya'lls help


	21. Spying

Chap 21

Kakashi finds himself back in Konoha, this time not in the guises of Sukea but one of the ANBU.

It's not too difficult to put a cover over his hair and grab one of the trainee masks. Then he hunts down the guards that are watching Naruto and signs 'orders' 'watch'.

The one in the deer mask signs his acceptance and Kakashi joins them on watch.

He of course had taken a gamble doing things this way but it looks like it's still a common thing for other ANBU to send the rookie to babysitting duty.

He lets out a breath but doesn’t let down his guard and follows the others as Naruto heads to the training ground. Kakashi makes sure to stumble a little when he hits a tricky hiding spot on the roofs and feels the amusement come off the other ANBU at the 'rookie'.

It's likely that the Anbu guard will be called off of Naruto in a month or two now that he's hit genin but for now Kakashi plans on using the disguise to do a little …spying.

Kakashi stays in his tree and watches as another jonin teaches his students. Watches as a man he barely recalls, gives Sakura a scroll on medicine. Watches as the man sits Naruto down with chakra exercises. Watches as he spars with Sasuke and corrects the young mans movements.

Watches as his team grows without him.

His heart aches.

***

When practice ends Sasuke is sweating and brooding, Sakura is reciting medical knowledge and Naruto has frustration coming off him in waves.

Chakra control exercises aren’t the best for him.

Kakashi noticed that the Jonin instructor had mainly focused on Sasuke and left the others to their own devices. Not that he can really judge with how he had originally pitted Sasuke and Naruto against one another and left Sakura mostly to herself.

It could just be that today he focused on Sasuke but tomorrow he'll focus on Sakura or Naruto, one day isn't really enough of a time to pick up on a pattern after all.

Once back at Naruto's apartment the ANBU change shifts and Kakashi sneaks his way out of Konoha.

……Only to come right back in as Sukea an hour later.

With a greeting to the slightly familiar gate guards and an exchange of some gossip he's free to enter.

Camera in hand Sukea sets off to find Naruto.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a lot of you really want Kakashi to get his genin back, and everyone seems to adore Gaara and his head pats lol
> 
> THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR KUDOS AND COMMENTS. They really help encourage me and they are all such a joy to read, thank you so much


	22. Sakura

Chap 22

Sukea's plan is to let Naruto find him and then help the blonde through his spot of trouble with his chakra control.

Instead he finds Sakura sitting on a park bench with a forlorn look on her face and swiftly changes plans.

It's about time this girl looked at something other than Sasuke.

"Excuse me kunoichi-chan." He calls lightly and the pink head snaps up in his direction.

"Y-yes?"

"I was wondering if I could take your picture? You just look so pretty sitting in the sunlight. It's really a lovely aesthetic look." He said and sure enough Sakura blushed and nodded. A few snaps from different angles, then he sat next to her.

"Would you like to see konoichi-chan?"

"oh umm yes please." She said and Sukea takes the camera off from around his neck to show her the pictures and examine the lighting. One shot stands out form the rest and Sukea paused on it with a humm.

The picture had a three quarter view of Sakura's face, eyes looking away, and headband glinting brighter than her hair in the sunlight. The shading made her childish round face look older and her eyes are nearly hidden in shadows. It reminds him painfully about _his_ Sakura, or well the Sakura this girl could grow into.

"I think this is my favorite one konoichi-chan."

"What? Why?"

"Because it makes you look like a strong ninja." He answers simply and they spend the next few minutes in silence as they look at the remaining pictures.

"Maa Konoichi-chan can I ask you a question?"

"Oh umm sure."

"Why did you decide to become a ninja?"

"Oh well, there's this boy in my academy class that I ..um that I really admire and I wanted to be his wi- I mean I wanted to be like him."

"hmmm…but what made you decide to go to the academy in the first place?"

"huh?"

"Surely you wanted to be a ninja before you went to the academy or you wouldn't have meet this boy."

Sakura sits in silence for a while and Sukea lets her. After all, he already knows the story. His Sakura has already told him about going with a small caravan to visit her Aunt at a young age. When it was attacked by bandits the young konoichi on the guarding mission took a kuni to the leg when it was aimed at Sakura's mom.

Kakashi thinks about how strong his student had become over the years. How she went from dieting fan girl to the second coming of Tsunade.

Then he looks at the girl sitting by his side and smiles.

"Maa Konoichi-chan you seem strong enough to not need a boy like that. I think you’re pretty admirable without him." Sukea leaves her alone after that only making a light inquire about entering a few photos in a competition to which the pinkett agrees to distractedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This actually did not go in the direction I had planed but I actually like this better.  
> I know everyone is sad that Kakashi isn't with his genin, but don't worry he'll help them out in a different way lol.
> 
> Sakura just needs a bit of a wake up call and Sukea is there to give it to her. Both by reminding her of her past and showing her what her future could be. Never underestimate the power of giving a preteen girl a confidence boost! 
> 
> THANK YOU ALL FOR THE AMAZING COMMENTS AND KUDOS!!!  
> I really appreciate them all, sorry i'm a bit later responding this week. I started a new job and the hours aren't what i'm use to, but it'll get better. Hope ya'll are doing well and staying safe.


	23. Sakura's resolve

Chap 23

Sakura is sitting on the training grounds once again going over a medical text scroll that was given to her.

Ever since they became a team that’s all Sakura has been doing, reading about being a medic. At first she thought it was great that her jonin sensei had so much faith in her. He always asks her questions at the end of each session and corrects her if she gets one wrong. But that's all he does, there are no demonstrations, no encouragements, no practice, just reading and questions. It's like the academy all over again, except at the academy Iruka sensei had made her do the minimum workout routine and Ino was there to compete with.

Now she just sits there reading while Naruto tries to learn chakra control and Sensei and Sasuke-kun spar.

Usually Sakura would be watching in admiration but today she has something else on her mind.

Today she's thinking about why she became a ninja… the answer isn't Sasuke, the answer isn't even Ino. In fact both of those came at the academy.

The reason Sakura wanted to become a ninja, was because of a young konoichi who had saved her mom from a kuni.

She hasn't thought about her in a long time, but now that she's been reminded by that weird photographer, she can't get it out of her head.

The girl probably wasn't higher than genin back then but to Sakura she had looked fierce and brave.

When Sakura looks in the mirror she sees nothing of what that konoichi looked like.

The konoichi had defined muscles that had strained as she had thrown a man twice her size over her shoulder. Sakura has little muscle that is certainly not defined and she can't pick up anything over 150 pounds.

The konoichi had a short hair cut that was held up in two short spike ponytails keep away from her face during the fight. Sakura's hair is long and lose, constantly getting her way while she does simple things, much less try and spar.

The photographer yesterday had told her she looked strong, the picture he had taken made her look strong. When Sakura sees herself, she does not look strong.

But she wants to be.

***

A week later Sakura is in the middle of going through the academy work out when Ino comes stomping up swinging a roll of paper like a weapon.

"WHAT IS THIS!?" the blonde screams enraged while Sakura stares at her in confusion.

"What is what Ino-pig?" she asks taking a defensive stance they learned in school just to be on the safe side.

"THIS!!" Ino yells holding the magazine in front of her face.

It only takes a second for Sakura to recognize the picture. Bewildered, she grabs the magazine and takes a closer look. She had won third place for the 'power of the konoichi' competition. A vague memory of the photographer mentioning it came to mind but she was not expecting _this._

This was the person Sakura wanted to be.

No, this was the person she was _going to be._

"Ino-pig." She calls, interrupting her friends rant. Sakura folded the magazine and placed it aside before holding her hands up in the customary 'start' position.

"Fight me!" she yells.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of you liked Sakura's wake up call so here's a little more for you :D
> 
> As always THANK YOU so much for all the wonderful comments and kudos, they make my day :D


	24. Left Behind

Chap 24

Sukea finds Naruto at the ramen stand loudly complaining about 'stupid chakra control exercises.'

"Is that what you've been up to?" he asks from behind the blond and chuckles in amusement as the boy almost jumps out of his chair in surprise.

"Sukea!" the blond yells and leans off his stool to hug the man around the waist. Now it's his turn to be surprised, it's been a while since he's been hugged by someone he thinks of as pack. He stills for a second but smiles and lightly pats the boy on his head.

"Hello Naruto." He says kindly and looks up as the chef places a bowl of eggplant ramen beside Naruto's second bowl of pork ramen.

"So what's this about chakra control exercises?" he asks as he sits down. The topic sends Naruto on a thirty minute rant. Satsuki just watches as the blond manages to both stuff his face and sound half way legible at the same time.

When his student (not his student, not this time) finally takes a breath Sukea takes a chance to drop a hint.

"Chakra control is easier for people with lower amounts of chakra. Is there a technique or jutsu that you can use to spilt your chakra in half or more?"

"ummm I think so." The blond relied eyes squinting together.

"Then you should use that and then try chakra control exercises, it'll might be easier than what you've been doing." Sukea explained with all the enthusiasm of a civilian who thought they know more about chakra than the average ninja.

He could practically feel the near by ninja rolling their eyes at him.

The conversation carried on for a little while longer then Sukea made his excuses and left the blond alone.

It took the brat another week to figure out that using the Kage bushin before he started the chakra control exercises helped him learn them faster. 

***

Sukea is at the village gates getting his pictures looked through when Naruto bounces up to him in excitement.

"Sukea! Sukea!"

"Not so loud idiot I'm sure the man can hear you." Sakura follows up her reprimand with a punch to the blonde's shoulder.

"Well if it isn't Naruto, and Kunoichi-chan."

"oh umm My name is Sakura Haruno, Sukea-san." The pinkett introduces herself a little shyly.

"Wait do you too know each other?" Naruto questions looking between the two in confusion.

"We do, Haruno-chan was a very good model for the konoichi competition this year." Sukea replies as his only female student (no longer his student, he has to remind himself.) blushes brighter than her hair.

"huh?"

"don’t worry about it too much Naruto. What are the two of you doing near the gate anyway?" he asks instead, and right away Naruto loudly exclaims.

"We have a mission! Believe it!"

"oh?"

"yeah we're taking some stupid scroll to-"

"Idiot don’t give away mission details!" Sakura cuts him off with a hand over his mouth, her face now red from anger and not embarrassment.

Before Sukea can respond however an unfamiliar voice is calling his students (not his, not his, not his) away. He looks up to see their new sensei wave his students over and the two swiftly say good bye before following the jonin and Sasuke out of the gates.

Kakashi's heart starts to hurt as he watches his students leave him behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Kakashi's back into the angst a little bit. But dont worry it wont last long this time :D
> 
> Wow there were so many positive comments about Sakuras Chapter! You guys are Amazing!!! Im glad so many of you liked it so much!  
> THANK YOU for the wonderful comments and kudos :D I really appreciate them all!!!
> 
> Edit: Thanks to 'withasideofangst' and 'AiHuiyuan' for pointing out a misspell, sorry about that I really appreciate the help :D


	25. Here comes Trouble

Chap 25

Kakashi was not stalking his genin. Nope, not stalking….he was just ..umm making sure they were safe that was all. Yeah. Cause umm there was a lot of dangerous stuff in the world like uh ..Zetsu! Zetsu was a dangerous thing. (and he really needed to find that stupid plant already)

So yeah he was not stalking, just making sure his genin didn’t need his help or anything. (He decided to quit trying to lie to himself, they were always his genin and always will be)

He follows the team to drop off the scroll in Takayama, it would normally only take him a day but at genin speed it's closer to three. The client happily receives the scroll and then they turn right around to head back home. All is fine and there's no sign of any trouble, when the jonin suddenly starts leading them off course.

At first Kakashi thinks the man may have finally gotten wind of him but while the man is a jonin, Kakashi is an ANBU Captain, with the skills that come with that title.

Something is wrong.

After half a day of travel and Kakashi summons his pack, giving them the barest explanation and sending them to spread out and watch for trouble.

The jonin sensei (who Kakashi never bothered to learn the name of) stops the kids early and says there going to go ahead and set up camp.

The genin look a little confused but not weary or alarmed.

Kakashi pulls his chakra in tight around him and perches on a branch right above their camp, then settles in to wait.

It's three hour later before anything happens.

The genin have settled down by the fire and are setting up their sleeping bags when Kakashi feels four chakra signatures ping his awareness.

The shinobi near the camp and Kakashi instantly goes on alert. He stays still and watches the genin jump in alarm as Kumo ninja enter the camp.

"Looks like you did it Jiro." Said the first kumo nin and Kakashi recognized him from the bingo book as Daisuke of the hidden blades.

"Hiazaki-sensei? What's going on?" Sakura asks backing up until she is nearly in the fire.

"What's going on little girl is that your sensei is a cloud spy and is more loyal to us than he is to you." One of the other ninja sneered.

This was of course not taken well by Naruto and Sasuke.

"You’re a traitor?" Sasuke all but states as his eyes narrow.

"What? But why?" Naruto looks like he was experiencing Misuki's betrayal all over again.

"Why not." Was the man’s come back, and then begins the villain monologue that Kakashi has become accustom too after having Naruto on his team.

"I never wanted a genin team, kids like you would only hold me back. Did you know that my specialty is ninjutsu? The Konoha council wanted the little Uchiha brat over there to copy all the jutsu I've spent years working for so that he would be stronger weapon for Konoha. They didn’t even care what I had to say about it. I was just going to be the little brats jutsu generator. You and Sakura were just the sacrificial pawns they added in order to push him higher into the ranks. Well I'm not going to be some stupid stepping stone for some spoiled little brat. I was made for something greater than that." The man spits out and at the end of his words the Kumo ninja start advancing toward the three scared genin.

Kakashi takes that as his cue and dropps down from his branch landing neatly between the genin and the adult ninja.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GAH I almost forgot to post this today sorry!!!
> 
> Im so glad so many of you liked the last chapter and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WONDERFUL COMMENTS AND KUDOS!!!!
> 
> Sorry I'm a late replying to ya'lls comments it's been a busy week but I appreciate all of you who take the time to leave such nice words. I couldn't keep this up without you (hearts)


	26. Kakashi to the Rescue

Chap 26

"Maa excuse me but I seem to have gotten lost on the road of life. Would any of you happen to have a map?" He asks in greeting and watches as their faces switch from startled and confused to angry and weary.

"Who the hell are you?!" Daisuke demands but one of the other ninja answers before Kakashi gets a chance.

"C-copy nin Kakashi Hatake." He stutters out and Kakashi has the satisfaction of watching 'Haizaki-sensei' turn pale white.

"What do you want?" Daisuke demands again but all the others are now looking very weary. Once again someone else answers before he gets a change too.

"He protects children."

"What?"

"All intelligence gathered on him the past few month’s points to him protecting children."

"Well there's one of him and five of us, we can take him, and then we can blame any injury's the kids have on him too." Daisuke says with a grin and Kakashi just smiles back as he replies.

"On the contrary it’s nine on five." the packs takes this as their cue and attack.

As the others leap out of the way of sharp teeth Kakashi leaps toward the genin. He manages to grab all three (just barely) and leap away. He knows the others will follow them soon so he lands them at the hollow of a tree before pulling the boys pouches off and rummaging through them.

They make a noise of protest but Kakashi passes them back as soon as he's extracted three spools of ninja wire and a bundle of kuni. Then he turns to Sakura.

"You’re the medic?" he asks and sees her eyes stray to his head band before she gulps and nods.

"Good. I'm going to set up a few traps out front, what I need you to do is feed the lightest stream of chakra into the wire, when you feel anyone intrude you spike your chakra ok?"

"umm I-" Sakura cuts herself off then takes a deep breath and braces herself before saying with more confidence.

"Yes sir."

And with that conformation Kakashi quickly sets a few simple but deadly traps at the opening of the hollow before returning to the fight.

Three bodies litter the ground already, 'Haizaki-sensei' among them. The mans neck looks like it was taken out by a set of large teeth and Kakashi feels vicious satisfaction looking at the corpse of the traitor. Bull and Pukkun are holding Daisuke at bay while the rest of the pack chases away the last of the ninja who look to be sporting a few bite marks of their own as well.

"Cowards!" Daisuke calls after them before he turns to face the copy-nin.

Kakashi doesn’t bother with witty banter or posturing, he goes straight for the kill.

This man has endangered HIS genin (Haizaki-sensei abandoned them so they are his now and no one would touch them again! EVER!).

A blade shoots out from the man's elbow but Kakashi deflected and grabbed his upper arm. As he does another blade pops out and cut through the center of his hand, (Kakashi makes a note to get metal plates attached to his gloves after this). Kakashi doesn’t let this stop him and he pulls his chakra into his palm, letting loose a lightning attack around the injury. The blade in his hand allows the electric current to flow right into Daisuke and the man screams in agony as he tries to pull away. But Kakashi is relentless and he holds on until the mans movements slow and eventually stops.

The chakra drain was definitely worth the quick, painful death.

Now to check on his genin. (His-His-His!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the title says it all on this one lol
> 
> WOW so many comments!!!!!!!!!! You guys are amazing...I almost feel bad about the cliff hanger....almost lol  
> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE AMAZING RESPONSE TO THIS STORY! I couldn't do it without you :D
> 
> Also if you see any errors please point them out, this was a little rushed today.  
> EDIT: Thanks to 'Lilyfleur' for pointing out the wrong tenses, I hope I got them all, thanks for the help.


	27. Meet Kakashi

Chap 27

He approaches the hollow with caution. No need in scaring the cute little genin …at least not yet.

"Maa It's just me." He calls as he nears the trap, staying on the edge until he fells the chakra drain out of the wire. It leaves with a reluctant edge and Kakashi suspects that Sakura has told the others of his scratched head band already.

Sure enough when he reaches the hollow all three are in a battle ready stances with kuni at the ready. So he holds his hands in plain sight, just slightly away from his sides and waits.

It’s Sasuke who brakes the silence,

"What do you want?" the little brat demands.

"Maa right now I could use a good meal and a med-nin." He replies waving his injured hand and trying to keep the grin off his face. He’s trying not to scare them right now (at least not till they recognize that they are his. HIS!)

The genin all blink at him and Naruto opens his mouth but closes it a second later.

"I meant what do you want with _us_?" Sasuke practically grinds out, his eyes narrow into a mild glare (Sasuke probably thinks it's threatening but Kakashi's seen way worse.)

"hmm that depends."

"…Depends on what?" and now Sasuke looks a little murderous, it's kind of cute.

"On what the three of you want to do."

That answer causes some looks to pass between the genin and none of them seem to have an answer. A minute of silence later and Sakura bravely asks,

"And if we want to go home to Konoha?"

"I'd be happy to escort you." Kakashi says back automatically, he understands wanting to go home. He’d go to if he could.

"We don’t need an escort." Sasuke snaps out and Kakashi makes his move.

A simple body flicker puts him right behind the young avenger and a quick poke in the ribs has the boy leaping away beside Sakura.

"hmm of course you don't, it's not like there are missing nin out here that would love to get their hands on one of the last Uchiha and the village jinchuriki or anything." He says, pure sarcasm coating every word and the genin tense tighter than a bow string. Sakura even looks like she's going to put herself in front of Sasuke but is mouthing the word 'Jinchuriki?' like she doesn’t understand. He wonders if she’s trying to recall anything she’s read about them, which knowing how secretive certain things can be he doubts a civilian girl has ever come across it before.

"How do you know about that?" Naruto asks drawing Kakashi’s attention away from the pinkett and all three turn to look at the blond. The poor kid looks half lost and more than a little fearful, so Kakashi takes a little mercy on him and decides that he's not a Konoha ninja right now, he doesn't have to follow Konoha's rules.

"Because I knew your parents Naruto, your mother was the jinchuriki before you and your father was my sensei." He says into the silence and watches as the boy tries to absorb that information.

"W-what?.. Then why ? Why didn’t you-" the boy cuts himself off and looks away like it's a weakness, but Kakashi can hear the unasked questions _Why didn’t you come for me? Why didn’t you take care of me? Why did you leave me alone?_

With a heavy sigh Kakashi approaches the boy and kneels in front of him, completely ignoring the kuni that's aimed at his face. He’ll be able to move out of the way if Naruto eer remembers he’s holding the thing anyway.

"I was fourteen when you were born.” He starts and then has to swallow the sudden lump of emotions in his throat as he thinks back on those horrible, lonely days.

“I wasn't… I wasn't in a good place, I couldn’t even take care of myself, much less a new born. When you were older, I was assigned to the Anbu guard but I was ordered to stay out of sight and to only approach you if you were in immediate danger. I- I petitioned once… to see you, as um as myself, but I was turned down."

"B-but why?"

"Hokage's orders. It was supposed to keep you safe. So that nobody would figure out who… or what you are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so I had extra time today and everyone was so sweet in the comments, so I decided I'd post another Chapter.   
> This is also my 'I'm sorry but not really' for the next few cliff hangers (^_^)
> 
> Kakashi just throws Konoha rules out the window now, these pups are HIS!  
> And yes while a stranger could have made stuff up, no ones ever talked to Naruto about his parents before, except for the old man, but now Naruto learns he had something in common with his mom and knowing that Kakashi actually tried to see him, that someone may have wanted him...well it's hitting him hard.
> 
> THANK YOU ALL FOR THE AMAZING COMMENTS AND KUDOS  
> It was so nice to open my inbox and read threw all of your lovely messages (hearts)  
> You guys are wonderful!


	28. Trust me?

> Chap 28
> 
> "Naruto's a Jinchuriki?" Sasuke asks and Kakashi turns his head in the Uchihas direction but stays kneeling in front of the blond who seems to be in some sort of shock.
> 
> "Yes, my guess is he was put on the team with you in case he ever went out of control."
> 
> "Hn?" ah there is was, the Uchiha one syllable language, lucky for him Kakashi understood uchiha-speak.
> 
> "Don’t you know? It's rumored that the sharingan can control the tailed beasts."
> 
> The copy-nin had the pleasure of watching the little Uchiha's eyes widen and his mouth forming a little 'o' of shock. It was quite nice to see something other than gloom on the brats' face.
> 
> Kakashi's glee is cut short as Naruto catches his attention once more.
> 
> "My parents…did they… did they love me?" the blond asks in a small voice and Kakashi softens his stance even further as he gently pulls the kuni away.
> 
> "Yes Naruto they loved you, they loved you very much." He answers and the blond flings himself forward to cry on Kakashi's shoulder.
> 
> It takes Kakashi a second to remember that he was supposed to hug the kid at that point so he dutifully wraps the boy in his arms and holds him close.
> 
> Out of the corner of his eye he watches Sakura and Sasuke put down their kuni and stare at them in bewilderment.
> 
> It took a few more minutes to finally calm Naruto down but once he did it was fully dark out and the genin couldn’t exactly go back to camp.
> 
> "Maa why don’t we look at this like a survival exercise." He suggests and gives each genin a simple task to complete while he goes back to fetch supplies form the destroyed camp.
> 
> The pack meet him there as he’s placing the last corpse in a spare body scroll, and tell him they've run the other nin off. Kakashi figures the kumo ninja won’t be back but he asks the pack to stick around anyway, just in case.
> 
> Having his genin back again centers Kakashi in a way he hasn't felt since he landed in this alternate past. It is with a relieved sigh and a lighter heart that he helps his genin set up a new camp and decide on a guard rotation.
> 
> He'll figure out the rest in the morning, for now he'll bask in the contentment of having his team, his pack near him and safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't planed for last chapter to be such an emotional gut punch so I'm sorry for all the tears. Don't worry I collected them all in a jar and will use them wisely :P
> 
> I also have some what figured out how to add emojis...but only sometimes so I'm not sure if it's my tech challenged self or my six year old computer that's the issue (it's probably me 🙄 <\- see)
> 
> Kakashi is finally with HIS genin and Sage help anyone who tries to take them away before they're ready to go  
> Sorry this chapter is so short I was working on my other fic this week (finally got over writers block for certain scene)
> 
> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for all of your AMAZING comments and kudos. they always make my week when I read them 😄


	29. Sharing stories

Chap 29

The next morning he watches as Naruto and Sasuke try to catch fish for breakfast. The key word is 'try', neither of them are having any success. Naruto because he's loud and impatient and Sasuke because of his incomplete traps. Both of them start out watching him wearily but soon grow too frustrated with their lack of success to pay much attention to the missing nin reading a romance novel.

"What has your sensei been teaching you? Cause it certainly wasn’t survival." He remarks after Sasuke nearly slices his hand open.

The comment causes Naruto to growl and start fussing about chakra control exercises.

Sakura, who decided to gather berries from a nearby bush, is the one who turns to him and answers.

"He had me studying to become a medic." She admits shy and uncertain, still cautious about being near a missing nin.

"oh? Hmm can you heal this?" he asks holding up his hand that had been speared by one of Daisuke’s many blades.

"umm I- well, I only know the theory."

"hmmm, no time to learn like the present." He says and motions her over, surprisingly the boys come as well.

"I'm going to show you the diagnostic jutsu, then I want you to run through the hand signs a few times before you try adding any chakra ok?"

The pinkeet looks nerves but nods determinedly. The boys also lean in curiously as he slowly makes the hand signs and pulls up the green chakra.

"Now your turn."

The rest of the morning is spent teaching all three how to do the mystic palm and properly catch a fish. Sakura turns out to be the best at both and Kakashi praises her with a pat on the head.

Soon their packed up and ready to travel. Sasuke and Sakura still look uncertain about trusting a missing ninja to get them home, but Naruto immediately begins asking stories about his parents and what they were like.

Kakashi tells him a few as they go along, making sure to keep a close watch on his surrounding and his chakra senses on high alert in case of an attack.

It's around lunch when Sakura asks a question that turns the tide of their relationship.

"Kakashi-sama?"

"Yes Sakura-chan?"

"Those men called you 'Copy-nin' why is that?"

"hmmm" He thinks for only a second before pulling up his headband and showing off Obitos eye.

Sasukes attention immediately snaps to him and before the Hatake can say anything more the young Uchiha is stomping toward him and hissing out angrily.

"That is a Sharingan! It belongs to my clan!" the situation only gets worse when Naruto blurts out.

"Sharingan? Whats that? Is it really important?"

Kakashi steps between the two boys when Sasuke’s glare turns to land on the blonde and pulls his scratched head band down again.

"It is very important Naruto, especially to Sasuke here. You see Sharingan is a kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan, it is very powerful, and very dangerous."

"That still doesn't explain how you have the Sharingan." Sasuke says pointedly and Kakashi takes a deep breath before being very honest with his most stubborn genin (stubborn or not the boy was his genin now, HIS!)

"This eye was given to me by my friend Obito Uchiha on our last mission together. He died and gave me his eye as a replacement for the one I lost on that same mission." He nearly chokes on a few words but the sentences come out strong.

All three genin are staring at him now and silence reigns for a few minutes until Sasuke finds his voice again.

"The clan would never have let you keep it." He says it like a conviction, but Kakashi can hear the question underneath it.

"The clan nearly didn’t, in fact most of the old police force hated me because of it. I think there were a few attempts on my life in fact. But the Third put his foot down and they had to back off or risk insubordination."

"hn" is the little Uchihas elegant response.

"umm what's a kekki genkee?" Naruto asks and Sakura spends the next few minutes informing the blonde of what it was and why it was bad when someone stole it.

Ah he had missed this air headed blond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi's encouragement of Sakura is going to help her confidence grow, Naruto has a connection to him through his parents and now Sasuke can relate to him in some way ....Its all coming together as planned Mwahahaha 
> 
> THANK YOU ALL for the wonderful comments and kudos they make my day 😃  
> And thank you all for your amazing support it makes writing this so much fun


	30. Sensei

Chap 30

That night when they set up camp Sasuke approaches him away from the others,

"You should teach me how to use the Sharingan." He opens with, like the arrogant little brat he is.

"oh?"

"yes."

"whys that?"

"Because I need it to defeat … a certain man."

"If you're just going to use it for revenge against your brother then there's no point in teaching you."

"!" That stalls the Uchiha in his tracks, but not for long.

"But you're already teaching us survival skills and you tried to single Sakura out for medical training even though she's a civilian born."

"It doesn’t matter if she's civilian born, she has better chakra control than you and Naruto combined, plus she already knows the theory she just needs practice."

"But why teach her medic stuff but not teach me about the Sharingan?" Sasuke asked in frustration his cheeks already a slight shade of red from his anger.

"Because Sakura learning to be a medic will help her teammates, were as you just admitted the only reason you want to learn the sharingan is for revenge."

"What does the team have to do with this, they'd just slow me down."

"Wrong." Kakashi said sternly, making sure to focus his intent on Sasuke so that the Uchiha would take his next words seriously.

"Konoha was founded on the basis of teamwork, the third shinobi war was started and won on team work. There are genin teams For A Reason. You think you can know everything and do everything yourself? Don’t be ridiculous! Even your brother is currently with an organization that uses two-man cells. Even if you get up the power to take on your brother and go after your revenge, he will have a partner watching his back. But if you continue like this, you will have no one…and take it from someone who knows, little Uchiha, having no one… it's a lonely existence." Kakashi sighed deeply before continuing.

"Right now, Sasuke you have the opportunity to take this mismatched team, and make it into something great. Weather that be the second coming of the Sannin or just a Family you chose for yourself. But whatever you decide just know that this team has the potential to be something far more than just another stepping stone on your path to revenge. "

He stops there and let those words sink in as he turns to Naruto and Sakura who have ended up eavesdropping on the conversation.

"You think we could be great?" Naruto asks and he says 'we' a little hesitantly but he turns to look at Sakura and Sasuke too.

"Of course, all you need is someone who's actually willing to teach you." He answers, not actually mentioning their dead former sensei but implying it hard enough.

"T-then could you teach us?" Sakura asks with a stutter and Kakashi doesn’t even think about it before saying

"Yes."

"Alright we got a new teacher! Take that Haizaki we don’t need you, we've got Kakashi-sensei now. Believe it!"

Kakashi feels his heart swell in his chest. Of course, Gaara calls him sensei and he enjoys teaching the red head but hearing Naruto say that, ....well it feels like he's finally home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GAH! Guys I almost forgot to post this today! If my sweet Honey hadn't reminded me I would have totally forgotten it!
> 
> Kakashi finally get's to be called Sensei and drill a few things about team work into his students heads lol. The next couple of chapter will see the lovely Kakashi Troll making an appearance :D
> 
> As always thank you all so much for your amazing comments and Kudos. I know I haven't answered some comments yet and I do apologize (life's been real fun lately :P) But don'f worry I'll be sure to get that done tonight. You all are so amazing and I can't thank you enough for such a positive response to this story.


	31. Introductions

Chap 31

The next morning in a fit of nostalgia Kakashi decides to do introductions.

"My name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are my ninken, hot springs and a few things I probably shouldn’t mention to minors, my dislikes are people who abandon their comrades, brainwashing, sentient plants and evil goddesses. My goals for the future are to kill the sentient plant so he can't bring back the evil goddess and change the future.

Alright your turn."

Kakashi's introduction gets some raised eyebrows but the genin simply blink and carry on. Naruto goes first and his introduction is nearly word for word the same thing as last time.

"Maa Hokage huh? Like parents like son."

"My parents wanted to be Hokage?"

"Yep and you should have seen the look on Kushina-nee-sans face when Minato-sensei got the hat."

It takes a second for what he said to sink in.

"MY DAD WAS HOKAGE?!"

"He was the Fourth and he died saving you and the village from the kyubbi." Kakashi adds taking in Sakura and Sasuke’s wide eyes with amusement.

"Why didn’t anyone tell me?"

"Because it's dangerous knowledge and if it was spread around you would be the target for assassination from every major village and even a few minor ones."

"oh."

"Hmm you're next Broody." He tells Sasuke who’s looking at Naruto like he'd never seen the blonde before.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I don’t have anything I particularly like or dislike-"

"Yes you do, you might as well share." Kakashi interrupted him and the Uchiha shoots him a glare before clearing his throat.

"I like Tomatoes and I dislike fangirls." He says shortly before continuing.

"My goal for the future is to ki- umm is to restore my clan and confront my brother." He amended after a quick look at Kakashi's covered Sharingan.

"ok pinky you’re up."

"Um My name is Sakura Haruno, I like the color red and .." she took a quick glance at Sasuke but despite the light blush on her cheeks she carries on well, "I dislike when Naruto is an Idiot-" "Hey!" "-and traitors like Haizaki who would sell kids to further their own gain. My goal for the future…I'd like to be a strong konoichi of Konoha."

Kakashi blinked in surprise. Had he really changed the future so much that Sakura was already looking to change her goal? She hadn’t even looked at Sasuke for that last part. For crying out loud he'd only talked to her the one time as Sukea on the park bench. Was that all she needed to see that she could be strong for herself?

He mentally jumped back to the present and what needed to be done.

"Alright then you all just need to pass one last test."

"A test? What kind of test?"

"A bell test." He answered pulling out two beaten and battered bells from his jacket packet.

(he'd been very surprised to find them originally and wondered what the him of this dimension had been thinking when he grabbed them.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep Kakashi's goals for the future are taking out Zetsu and preventing Kaguya....not that anyone will think thats a sane thing lol  
> His genin have collectively decided to ignore that part for there own sanity lol
> 
> THANK YOU guys so much for all your wonderful comments and kudos they make my day :D oh, sorry for any grammar of spelling errors this was a little rushed today.  
> Also welcome new readers, I think there are quite a few of you this month, I hope you all continue to enjoy the crazy shenanigans ahead :D


	32. Bell test and more

Chap 32

Kakashi dodges Sasuke’s fire ball and switches with Naruto’s clone before leaping away from Sakura's trip wire. The three genin had started out with separate attacks but about an hour ago they'd decided to combine their forces and where trying not to trip over each other while going for the bells. Kakashi let’s them go at it til lunch when he calls an end to the test.

His genin lay on the ground and propped against trees huffing and puffing with exhaustion.

"You all pass." He says lightly and takes in there bewildered and excited faces with glee.

"But we didn't get the bells." Naruto points out, the only one of them with any breath to speak with.

"The test wasn’t about the bells, it was about team work. Jonin in Konoha test their genin based on what they value. My nindo is 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash.' What I value is teamwork, and you three just showed that, so you pass. Welcome to team 7"

"YES! We did it. Believe it!" Once the blond is done celebrating Kakashi takes Naruto to catch lunch while Sakura and Sasuke catch their breath.

"hey hey Kakashi-sensei, are we gonna stay with you now? Does that make us missing nin too?"

"I don’t think it's a good idea for the three of you to go missing nin, not yet at least. There's a lot you still need to learn in Konoha but I'll be sure to teach you when I can. Besides it'd be nearly impossible for you to become Hokage if you went missing nin."

"… you think I can become Hokage?" the blonde asks and Kakashi turns from his finished trap to kneel in front of the blonde.

"I don’t think Naruto, I _know_ you will." And with that he goes about placing two other traps and catching a few rabbits, the blond a content presence at his side.

When they return to camp Sasuke has a fire going and Sakura is sipping lightly at a canteen. He gives them each a portion of rabbit and a stick, then they all wait while the meat cooks.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asks, this time with his eyebrows drown together and a frown on his lips that indicates he’s thinking very hard about something.

"Yes Naruto?"

"Why don’t you just come back to Konoha with us and become a Konoha ninja again?"

"ah…well I suppose I could ask but I don’t think it'd go over well."

"why not?"

"Dope, think. He's a missing nin, obviously he left Konoha for a reason." Sasuke berates.

"umm why did you leave Konoha Sensei?" Sakura asks before the two boys can start an argument, and all three genin turn to him in expectation.

He considers lying but he's been honest with them so far and he really doesn't want to bother trying to make something up.

"maa … I don’t remember." All three sweat dropped at the confection.

"You don’t remember?" Sasuke asks full of disbelief and Kakashi heaves a sigh.

"I woke up one day on a bank somewhere in river country with a headache the size of the hokage monument, a scratch in my head band and no memory of the past two years." He neglects to mention the fact that he was surrounded by dead Root hunter nin but if the kids retell the story he doesn’t want that detail getting out.

Now the three genin are looking at him through different eyes and Naruto once again brakes the silence.

"Don't worry Sensei, when I become Hokage I'll let you come back to the village. Believe it!"

"When you do Naruto I'll be waiting." He says sincerely and sees from the corner of his eye as Sakura and Sasuke both started giving the blond considering looks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know a lot of you where hoping for team 7 missing nin but these three are going back to konoha like good little genin.....then the real shenanigans can begin (insert evil author grin here)
> 
> THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH for the wonderful comments and kudos this last week, I've been feeling a little bummed lately so reading all your wonderful comments really boosted my mood thanks so much!


	33. what to tell

Chap 33

Kakashi enjoyed the next two days to the fullest. He started every day by showing his genin a few survival skills, traps, skinning, ect. Then they moved on to a few chakra exercises and occasionally told a story about his old team. After lunch they would travel at a slow meander, Kakashi planned on milking this time for all it was worth.

On the morning of the third day Kakashi feels a familiar chakra signature coming toward them. He wonders if his old friend will be wearing his Anbu uniform.

"Ah looks like Konoha's sending out an Inuzuka to find you." He tells his genin.

"What's an Inzuna?" Naruto asks and is promptly hit over the head by Sakura.

"We were in class with Inuzuka Kiba you idiot use your brain." The pinkett scolds him.

"oh so it's a clan name then?" the blonde squints in concentration.

"Yes." She replies and then continues. "The Inuzuka are known for having dog companions and rivaling the Hyuuga and Aburame in tracking skills."

"Hinata is a Hyuuga right? And umm the bug guy from our class is an Aburame? Weren't all three of those guys put on a team?"

"yes."

"Why put all the trackers on one team?"

"umm I actually don't know the answer to that." Sakura replies and then to Kakashi's amusement all three genin turn to him for an answer.

"Best guess is that they're being trained to be a team of trackers. Also it might boost the clan relations since all three are children of the current clan heads."

All three genin nod at this information and turn to continue down the path but Kakashi stops them.

"Here's where we part for now. Inuzuka will be here in an hour or two and it's best if I'm long gone before that." He can see the protests forming on Naruto's lips before Sakura stops him by placing a gentle hand on the blonds shoulder.

"What should we tell the Hokage, Kakashi-Sensei?" she asks quietly.

"The truth, that Hitaro tried to sell you off and a missing konoha nin helped you escape. I'll leave it up to you all to decide what's best to tell and what's not. The only thing I ask is that you don't talk about Naruto being Jinchuriki or who his parents are. And Naruto it might also be best if you don’t say anything about bringing me back to the village. It will set a lot of people on edge and work against both of us in the future."

"ok sensei." The blond mumbles, clearly unhappy with this set up but agreeing none the less.

"What about the Sharingan?" Sasuke asks, looking at the covered eye.

"I'll leave that up to you, the Sharingan is your clans kekkei genkai, they know I have it but keeping your own knowledge of it close to your chest might be best." He answered, and the little Uchiha replied with a determined nod.

A few more questions are asked and answered before Kakashi pats his genin on the head in good bye. Naruto of course flings himself at Kakashi's waist in a hug, nearly tackling him to the ground in the process. When he finally managed to pry the blonde off (with much reluctance on both parts) Sakura steps forward and gave him a short hug as well. "Be safe sensei." She tells him. Sasuke of course simply gives him a 'hn' and excepts a second head pat.

"Bye Kakashi-sensei" is called at three different volumes as he sprints away from his genin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Kakashi purposefully butchered the old sensei's name  
> Yes the kids will be back in konoha soon  
> No, no one is ready for the chaos to come 
> 
> THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR AMAZING SUPPORT!!!!
> 
> Also if you see any errors please let me know, I'm in a bit of a rush this morning and was trying to post this before work.
> 
> EDIT: THANK YOU to Eovin and Enter Name (tho I think that's a guest and not an actual name) for pointing out the errors in last chapter I really appreciate the help


	34. Bye Sensei

Chap 34

Naruto keeps yelling and waving long after Kakashi-sensei is out of sight. He misses the man already.

"Don't Worry Sensei When I'm Hokage I'll Bring You Back Home!"

"Quite yelling dope the Inuzuka might hear you." Sasuke tells him.

"Sasuke's right. We should probably get our story straight before they show up here too."

"Huh? Don’t we just need to tell them the truth like Kakashi-sensei said?" Naruto asks confused.

"Yes we're going to tell them the truth but we also need to leave some things out, or we might be in trouble." Sakura answers.

"Oh like what sensei said about not telling old man Hokage about bringing him back to the village when I become Hokage?"

"Exactly. We need to decide what's safe to tell and what's going to get us in trouble." His pink haired team mate says.

"No talking about the Sharingan." Sasuke states and Naruto bristled at his tone but remembers that sensei had said it was Sasuke's choice so he lets it go…..reluctantly.

"Ok so that's no Sharingan, no Jinchuriki, no Naruto's parents, umm anything else?" Sakura asks her teammates curiously.

"We should leave it there, if we leave too many things out they'll notice the blanks." The Uchiha puts in. Naruto is pretty glad they stopped there, he isn’t sure if he could remember what to say and what not to say if they kept adding.

Sakura makes a determined face before pulling the two of them in close, "Alright this is what we're gonna do…."

***

Yami Inuzuka stands in the Hokages office cursing his luck. In just a week he would have been back in Anbu instead of being assigned as a Jonin tracker to two Chunin on a retrieval mission for a missing genin team. It isn't until he finds out 'what' genin team has gone missing that he realizes why he was chosen for the mission. With the village jinchuriki and the Uchiha brat on the team it's a wonder they waited the customary two days before sending out a search party.

When Yami first heads from the gate he thinks it'll be three days before they catch the scent they need. He thinks he'll find a dead body and traumatized kids….how many kids will be the question.

Instead they find a scent not far from the village gates, carried on the wind, and within two hours Yami and his team find the three genin meandering down the road to Konoha. They look calm and relaxed, a little nervous but nothing too bad. The only oddity is the fact that their sensei is nowhere in sight.

"Report." He barks at them once they’re close enough and to his surprise both boys turn to the pinkett.

"Haizaki Jiro has committed treason against Konoha and tried to sell his genin to Kumo. The exchange was intercepted and we were rescued by a missing nin who escorted us until two hours ago." She replies steadily.

Yami takes a second to absorb this information as a familiar scent tickles his nose.

"And the name of this missing-nin?" he asks, then watches as the genin scuffle their feet and look at the ground. He almost thinks they've made up the story to stay out of some kind of trouble but then they give him a name.

A name that sends a chill down his spine and makes that familiar scent very daunting.

"Copy-nin Hatake Kakashi."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to Eovin and Enter Name for the help last chapter sorry it took me so long to edit the changes.
> 
> Don't worry everyone Kakashi will get back to his genin soon.....in the mean time poor Hiruzen is about to be given a very large headache lol
> 
> THANK YOU ALL for your amazing support Your comments and kudos really help keep my mood up you're all so amazing!!!!


	35. Hello Headache

Chap 35

"-then he taught us how to fish, and climb trees and Kakashi-sensei was way better at showing us stuff than that stupid traitor Haizaki. He even showed Sakura-chan how to do a medic scan technique thingy-"

"It's called Mystic Palm Jutsu, Naruto."

"Yeah that, and he told us that teamwork was important and gave us a bell test, oh I think I told you that already-"

As Naruto rambles on Hiruzen can feel his headache growing.The kids have been in his office ten minutes and he feels like he's gone two verbal rounds with the Hyugga elders.

He's very unsure how to take all the information he's been given by the children in front of him. Yes there had been some suspicion about Haizaki but nothing crucial. The fact that the man is a traitor stings, but the kids hardly seem affected. In fact they seem almost giddy, even the Uchiha who has said all but three words has a smug air about him and the other two haven't stopped smiling since they walked through the gate. It's a little unnerving actually, and that's not even bringing Hatake into it. 

Hatake Kakashi who had barley been seen in two years since he became a missing nin. Now he's escorting civilians, making friends with Suna and rescuing stray genin? Excuse him, becoming a SENSEI to stray genin?

Nothing is making since and Hiruzen feels like he needs to have another talk with Danzo about that mission from two years ago. He suddenly feels like more happened there than his old friend let on.

With any luck Kakashi let something slip to the kids about his plans but trying to figure it out from Naruto will be nearly impossible, according to the boy Hatake's plans for the future involve killing a sentient plant and a moon goddess of all things. So with a puff of his pipe Hiruzen lifts his hand to halt Naruto's story and then asks all three of them.

"Did Hatake tell you anything related to his current situation? People he's in contact with? A place he likes to go? Anything significant that's happened to him recently?"

All three kids get quiet before looking at each other, even Naruto isn't saying anything. Which means the answer is yes to at least one of the questions. The fact that they pause worries the Hokage. The children are showing loyalty to a missing nin whether they relies it or not, the question is will that new loyalty to their savior outweigh the loyalty to their village.

Luckily the Haruno girl bites her lip and steps forward.

  
"We asked him why he was missing nin."

"Oh? What did he say?" Hiruzen asks but he honestly expects that Hatake would either avoid the question or give an outrageous lie that the Hokage is going to have to correct swiftly.

Instead the girl looks at her team mates again and then tells the Hokage the last thing he expected.

"He says he doesn’t remember. He woke up in River country with a headache, no memory of the last two years and a scratch on his headband."

WHAT?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know everyone was excited to figure out how the hokage was going to react so really hope you all enjoy the chapter. Next up T&I....poor suckers.
> 
> Sakura's plan was to let Naruto do most of the talking because the adults would only pay so much attention to him babbling, and Sakura or Sasuke could interrupt with extra information to keep the adults off the trail when they interrupt Naruto before he says something he shouldn't. As you can see it works very well. :D
> 
> EDIT: Thanks to 'greenchair' for helping me with my terrible grammar lol I really appreciate the help  
> THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR AMAZING COMMENTS AND KUDOS! I really appreciate all the wonderful encouragement and i'm so glad you all take the time to leave me a little comment, wither its a simple emoji, or kudos, or a paragraph of excitement I cherish them all. <3


	36. Poor suckers

Chap 36

"He could have been lying." Ibiki says to the assembled team that has been called to analyze the new information on one Hatake Kakashi.

"Or he could have been telling the truth." Anko counters with but Inoichi interrupts her to add his own input.

"The fact that he is no longer hiding and is instead traipsing around in plain sight, helping caravans and sand nin and stray genin makes me think it's not a lie."

"Troublesome, the reports from team Genma tell us that he is not in the same state of mind that he was several years ago. They say he was treating it like a one sided spar instead of a fight, and Genma himself reported to the Hokage that he was smiled at."

"Hold on the guy wares a mask, how can you tell when he's smiling?" Anko interrupts.

"Go ask Genma, he's the one who put it into the report." Shikaku tells her around a yawn.

"How would he lose his memory though?" Inoichi asks bringing them back to topic.

"…Head trauma." Ibiki answers slowly and everyone suddenly makes a point to be staring anywhere but Ibiki's head.

"That still doesn't explain his new skills or why he moves differently now." Inoichi continues.

"He's a missing nin, he probably had to develop new skills to keep from getting caught. Konoha itself has only had three sightings of him in the past two years and none of them have been a major confrontation. The guys a genius remember he could have easily acquired new skills to survive." Ibiki points out.

"Yes but if what he's saying is true about the memory loss then he wouldn't have those new skill." Inoichi argues back, his blond ponytail swinging behind him as he shakes his head in the negative.

"Unless he already had them but never got to use them." Anko interjects and everyone looks at her. With a roll of her eyes she explained,

"You just pointed out that Hatake is a genius. But what we’re forgetting about is that he also has the Sharingan, you know the eye that copies everything? For crying out loud he's known for being the man with a thousand jutsu, he probably has more things in that eye than even he knows about. He's had that eye since he was thirteen, he became Anbu at 14 and Captain not long after. Given that carrier path it's possible he came across a lot of obscure jutsu and skills that he wouldn’t have used in the village. Not to mention if the Sharingan can still recalled things that he doesn't. Hatake wears a headband over it most of the time, so even if the Sharingan did show him some things about the past two years it would mostly be fights or things that would help him survive. So if his claim if amnesia is true then he will still have those skill to fall back on but not the story to go with it.” Anko finishes her rant with a huff and sits back in her chair, practically daring anyone to tell her she’s wrong.

No one does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't wait to see what you guys think of this chapter (wide happy grin)  
> Everyone seemed to really enjoy Hiruzens headache, I don't think anybody had sympathy for the poor old man. lol
> 
> As always THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR COMMENTS AND KUDOS!!!  
> Seriously I hit a couple of rough spots this week and reading your comments helped turn my mood around. I can't thank you all enough for your amazing support.


	37. interlude

Chap 37

Sakura sighs heavily as she makes her way to the training field. Not the one they used with Hizaki but one that Kakashi-sensei had talked about using with his team. The training field that held the memorial stone. She brought a few flowers just to show a bit of respect but she is surprised to find that she isn’t the only one there.

Naruto and Sasuke look up at her approach but don't say a word as she comes forward to place the flowers down. Silently the three stand looking for the names of Kakashi-sensei's precious people.

Uchiha Obito is with the rest of the names Sakura remembers being mentioned in class about the third war. Nohara Rin is about four rows over and twelve lines down. Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina are together, right at the top of what Sakura guesses are the victims of the Nine-tails attack.

Sakura's not sure how long the three of them stand there in silence, tracing the names with their eyes. But when Naruto takes a step back and starts walking away Sakura doesn’t hesitate to follow him. Behind her she can hear the crunch of Sasuke's sandals on the ground and knows he's coming too.

When there back in the training ground Naruto straightens up and then faces then both with a look in his eyes that has Sakura comparing it to steel.

"I'm gonna train hard, and I'm gonna be Hokage and then I'm gonna brin- I mean I'm gonna fulfil the promise I made. Believe it! Who here is with me?" he questions the two of them.

"hn Dobe." Sasuke answers but doesn't leave so Sakura takes that to mean that he’s in. Sakura herself thinks of her promise to become a strong kunichi, of Sukea's picture and Kakashi's words. Then she turns to Naruto with determination and a nod.

"What are we waiting for, lets get started!" she says with a bright grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm sorry about the short chapter, but i'm not actually home this week and my flash drive is at the house. 😅 opps. So you get a brief look at the kids and what they're up to.
> 
> THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR AMAZING COMMENTS AND KUDOS!   
> You all make this story so fun to write and I appreciate all of your responses.❤


	38. Visit

Chap 38

Kakashi waits a week before gliding into Konoha under the guise of Sukea once again. He chats for a while with the gate guards and sells a few nice scenery pictures to a calendar maker before heading over to the ramen stand.

To his great surprise Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke are all sitting on stools and chatting, well Naruto and Sakura are chatting Sasuke just seems to be nodding along.

Sukea is about to call hello when Naruto spots him out of the corner of his eye.

"SUKEA-SAN!!" he yells in greeting before flying off his stool and straight into the camera man. If Kakashi weren't playing the civilian the flying tackle wouldn't have done a thing, as it is they both go tumbling into the dirt and Sukea puts a protective had around his precious camera.

"NARUTO DON’T JUST TACKLE PEOPLE LIKE THAT!" Sakura yells at him, hurrying off her own stool and pulling the blonde up by his arms. She gives her teammate a quick glance to look for injuries before turning to the man still on the ground.

"I'm so sorry about him Sukea-san, Naruto is just use to dealing with ninja. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Maa just a few scratches, no harm done." He replies, showing off his scrapped arm where he prevented the camera from hitting the ground. Sakura takes one look at them then turns to face him fully with a polite smile on her lips.

"Sukea-san, I'm training to become a medic-nin, If you're ok with it I'd like to practice healing your wounds."

"That's very nice of you Sakura-chan. Go right ahead." He replies and holds his scratched up arm out to her.

Very slowly Sakura walks through the hand signs before adding chakra and then gently places a pale green glowing hand on his arm. It takes a few seconds and Sakura looks like she's concentrating far harder than necessary but the scratches heal over with only mild lines in their place.

"That's amazing Sakura-chan." Sukea praises and Sakura's face turns faintly pink.

"Yeah. Sakura-chan is amazing, Kakashi-sensei knew she was medic right away." Naruto boasts on his team mates behalf.

"Oh you got a new sensei?" Sukea asks, and Kakashi wonders what his little genin have told everyone.

"Naruto!" Sakura scolds in a harsh whisper and the blonde has the decency to look chastises for all of three seconds before Teuchi calls his order from inside his ramen stand.

The blonde rushes back to his seat, thanks the smiling chef and then dives into the bowl. Sakura looks miffed at this behavior but Sukea just laughs and slides into the stool on Naruto's other side. Ayame gives him a friendly wave and turns back to her work.

"Did your mission go well?" he asks them and Naruto opens his mouth but is cut off by Sasuke this time.

"It went fine, but we're not supposed to give mission details to civilians." He says with a light huff, and Kakashi can’t help but chuckle at him.

"I suppose that's true, but I'm glad you all made it back safely." Sukea says giving all three a warm smile before focusing on Sasuke.

"I'm Sukea by the way, it's nice to meet Naruto and Sakura's last teammate."

"hn"

Kakashi can already tell Sasuke has dismissed him because of his civilian appearance… he'll have to teach the boy better than that in the future. Kakashi hides his secret grin by turning it on Ayame as she serves his eggplant ramen. The poor girl turns beet red.

After checking on his genin Kakashi doesn’t stick around long. But he does places three timed seals above each of their beds that will release a little gift in about three days. By which time Sukea will be long gone from the village and no one will find a trace of the copy cat -nin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi finds his genin, and leaves a few headaches for Hiruzen-.....i mean presents...for his genin 😁
> 
> Oh, as for Sakura using healing jutsu, she's been practicing a lot and even talked to a couple of med-nin. They both advised her to keep up the good work, but to not try healing anything more serious than a shallow cut before she had more training. 
> 
> THANK YOU all so much for your wonderful comments and kudos 😊 they always brighten my day.
> 
> Edit: Thanks to 'Delighted_to_read_you' for correcting Ayame and Teuchi's names, i appreciate the help.


	39. Gifts

Chap 39

Sakura is rudely awakened by a heavy weight suddenly thumping into her belly. It startles her so badly she accidentally knocks over her bed side lamp and the resounding crash has her parents running into her room at high speed.

"Sakura! What happened!" her mother calls loudly and flicks on the light.

Once all the Haruno's have stopped blinking at the sudden light all their eyes are drown to a large scroll that still rests on Sakura's bed.

On top of the scroll is a small drawing of a henohenomoheji.

Without thinking Sakura rushes to open the scroll and then squeals in excitement when she see's it's The library’s scroll containing notes from Tsunade-himi. Her parents seem alarmed but Sakura couldn't care less.

Her teacher just gave her a scroll FULL OF HAND WRITTEN NOTES FROM TSUNADE OF THE SANIN.

Her missing-nin teacher just snuck into Konoha to give her a scroll!!!!

Sakura feels so happy and grateful she flings open the window and yells loudly into the night.

"THANK YOU KAKASHI-SENSEI!!!"

Sakura is completely unaware of the poor Anbu who had been creeping closer to her widow since the crash, hoping to catch the copy-nin off guard. He had been about to enter the glass himself when she flung them open to yell into the night. Now he's hanging on by his chakra infused finger tips as the girl continues to squeal happily on the inside.

Anbu Stag is not looking forward to reporting this to the Hokage.

Across the village and closer to the red lights district Naruto is rudely awakened by something knocking him in the head. Blurry eyed and groggy he turns on the light to see a book laying on his pillow.

"The Tales of the Gutsy Shinobi" the title reads and Naruto opens the cover to a loose piece of paper that has a henohenomoheji scribbled on it. With a yawn Naruto puts both book and paper on his bedside table and crawls back into bed. He'll look at it again in the morning.

In another part of the village, in the abandoned Ghost town of the Uchiha compound Sasuke is woken out of his nightmare by something hitting him in the back. Instinct hits him and he's out of bed and on his feet with a kuni in hand and at the ready.

When nothing happens for ten seconds Sasuke reluctantly turns on the light and finds that his bed is covered in loose paper.

He picks the first one up and finds it's a bingo book page of his brother. A quick look through the rest shows one other bingo page with what looks like a land shark on it and the rest is covered in some of the worst hand writing Sasuke has ever seen. But eventually he finds a picture of a henohenomoheji on one page and then a note saying 'Learn to fight without looking your opponent in the eye- see Maito Guy'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GAH IM SORRY IM SORRY IM SORRY!!!!!!!!!  
> I totally forgot what day it was yesterday and IM SOOO SORRY!
> 
> Anyway ...Umm no genin were harmed by the dropping of gifts on there person, Naruto is far to hard headed for anything to hurt him and Sakura would at the most have a light bruise but would definitely no be paying attention to it cause she's distracted by her scroll, Sasuke wasn't going to sleep well anyway and it was loose fluttering paper. Hmm, that's all for this one, next up Hiruzen Headache 2.0 lol
> 
> THANK YOU GUYS FOR YOUR AMAZING COMMENTS AND KUDOS!!!!!


	40. Hiruzen Headache 2.0

Chap 40

The next morning all three genin find themselves summoned to the Hokages office and ordered to bring their newest possessions.

All three of them obey but Sakura is scanning the scroll as quickly as she can, Naruto has his face deep in the book and Sasuke is altering between glaring at anyone to close and flipping through all the loses pages he has.

The Hokage gives an internal sigh before smiling and starting a light interrogation.

"Good morning Team 5-" he begins and is immediately cut off by all three genin correcting him at different volumes

"Team 7!"

"Ah yes, my mistake, Good morning Team 7. Last night each of you were given a gift from an unknown source-"

"It's not unknown Kakashi-sensei gave them to us" Naruto interrupted, glaring over the edge of his book.

"And you know it was him because?" the Hokage questions. He’s hoping that one of the children had spotted the missing nin, or that Hatake had taken the time to talk to one of them. The Anbu he'd assigned to watch the children since the incident had reported seeing nothing that night except for the children getting out of bed and finding the various gifts.

But instead of confirming if Hatake was actually in Konoha all three children pull out various pieces of paper with a henohenomoheji written in what the Hokage recognizes as Hatake's messy hand writing.

This time the Hokage does sigh aloud.

"Be that as it may, the fact that these items were given to you by a missing nin makes them subject to scrutiny. You will be given the items back if they prove harmless to Konoha." He declares. He expects resistance with this, mainly from Naruto, but to his surprise the young Haruno girl is the one to step forward.

"Hokage-sama," she begins respectfully and then turns the scroll so that he can see the tag attached.

"This is a scroll already of Konoha, written by Tsunade of the Sanin and can be found in the level 3 archive of the library. Genin like myself are only allowed to check this out if their sensei signs for it. I have no village assigned sensei but you should probably check the library to see if Kakashi-sensei signed for it's release." She said diplomatically and so the Hokage waved an Anbu off to do just that.

The masked individual returned seconds later, papers in hand. He paces it gently on the Hokage’s desk and points at the henohenimoheji that is the last in line.

The Hokage takes a moment to absorb the fact that a missing nin had gotten into their archives undetected to grab a medic scroll and even used proper checkout proceeded for it.

Then he turns back to young Haruno. The steely look in her green eyes would make her a fearsome medic nin some day, perhaps that was why Kakashi was trying to help her. If she remained loyal to Konoha then being a medic would make her a great asset to the village but if she was not….

The Hokage put the thought from his mind for now and said,

"The scroll will be checked for any tampering and then returned to you Haruno-chan." The girl nods and hands the thick scroll over to the Anbu before stepping back.

Then Sasuke steps forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can all thank Kinpandun for the title lol
> 
> And yes they have actually been team 5 until Kakashi got them, he didn't realize it cause he was trying to avoid the hurtful things and wasn't paying attention. The Hokage hears about them being team 7 with Naruto's rant, but it doesn't actually click until now. And he's so willing to let it go because he needs answers. 
> 
> The scroll is indeed part of the library but rarely used because most people don't know it's a recourse they can access. Sakura only found out because her mom saw the tag and asked about it.   
> oh Sakura is also just buying time to finish reading her paragraph, she had no idea kakashi actually signed for it's release lol
> 
> As always. THANK YOU FOR YOU KUDO'S AND COMMENTS. They always brighten my day :D


	41. Paper trail

Chap 41

"Hokage-sama much of this information is related to the Sharingan, my clans kekki genkai. As it is of my clan I have the right to it's possession by law." The Uchiha concludes and the Hokage gives an internal wince. He wonders if Sasuke knows of Kakashi's sharingan, the kids hadn't reported it but that doesn't mean they left some information out.

"A Yamanaka will be required to look over them briefly for anything discriminatory but you may be present for the duration." The Hokage compromises quickly not wanting to get in a clan battle, even if the clan was only down to one.

Sasuke seems to think it over before nodding and stepping back with his team.

Naruto looks at both his team mates and then huffs before stepping forward and putting the book down on the Hokages desk.

"Can I at least have a copy of it? It was written by some guy named Jiraiya and the main character has my name Jiji." The blonde pouts but doesn't reach to take the book back.

Hiruzen takes one look at the book to confirm the title before reaching into a draw further down his desk and into the very back where he placed the copy that Jiraiya had given him so long ago.

When he passes it over the desk Naruto bounces with glee and grabs it with a quick 'thanks ji-chan' before stepping back to join his team mates and immediately flips the book open to begin reading again.

With all that taken care of the Hokage dismisses the new 'team 7' and then asks the Anbu to search for any other paper trails the copy-nin may have left.

It turns out that paperwork has been filed for a team transfer regarding 'team 7', an internship has been filled out and left at the hospital for Sakura Haruno, a tab has been made at Ichiraku Ramen under a henohenomoheji, and Might Gai has reported that a scroll for mentorship with Sasuke Uchiha was left in his house, the only blank spots requiring a signature from both participants.

Hiruzen was under the impression that Hatake-san hated paperwork, but given his lousy hand writing the Hokage wonders if this isn't just a way to further stress him out. After all, the places that the copy-nin would have had to get into undetected was a bit mind boggling….. the fact that he did it just to fill out paperwork makes the Hokage wonder just how hard the poor boy got hit in the head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes Kakashi filled out all the proper paper work  
> the hokage is in despair because even his valued Jonnin don't fill out the paperwork properly like this.  
> Inochi gets a headache because 'little glaring terror that only speaks in single syllables who is Very unhappy to share his clan stuff'  
> Gai cries Manly Tears of Joy and literally Leaps at the chance to help his rivals new genin (complete with sunset back drop and a Youthful speech....much to everyone's despair) lol
> 
> Edit: thanks to 'UndecidedAnimeGirl' for pointing out some corrections, I really appreciate the help


	42. Back to Suna

Chap 42

Kakashi strolls lazily to the gates of Suna and finds Gaara plus sibling waiting for him.

"Maa no Baki-san today?" he asks in greeting as he pats Gaara affectionately on the head.

"He has a meeting with the Kazekage." The red head replies looking more like a content cat than a boy.

Kakashi nods, doesn’t ask any further questions and simply leads the three over a few duns and politely remains in sight of the gate guards since Baki is not with them today.

Half way through training Temari asks him an unexpected question.

"Why don't you want to stay in Suna Kakashi-san? I know Baki-sensei has been trying to find a way to entice you to join. He would even let you step in as our sensei if you asked."

"Ah Temari-chan you’re a smart girl." He replies and thinks a moment before answering.

"Suna is a nice place and for all the heat and sand there are still many wonderful things about the desert. But the desert is not home for me, just like kiri could never be a home for you." The girl winces at the thought of living in the bloody mist but doesn't let it detour her from the conversation.

So Kakashi tells her a bit about his beloved village, about the interesting people and the different clans, and the variety of food and his favorite places to eat. About the memorial stone and even some about his precious people that are long gone. He gives her the good things, but he also warns her of the bad.

He tells her as much as he dares about the place that he calls home.

"But isn't a home less about the place it's at and more about the people who are there?" she asks and Kakashi has a sneaky suspicion that someone put her up to this.

"hmm perhaps but Konoha does hold some precious people for me, and some very fond memories too."

"But you’re a missing -nin from Konoha, it's not like you can go back so easily right?"

"hmmm well it depends on how well I disguise myself."

That's stops her for a second, and now the brothers are interested in the conversation too.

"Disguise yourself?" Konkuro asks and the boy looks a little intimidated still but he's brave enough to ask questions now which Kakashi counts as progress.

"Yes, I can go to Konoha any time as long as I disguise myself really well." He explains and watches the gears start turning in their heads. It's Tamari of course that asks the question they’re all thinking.

"Have you snuck into Konoha in disguise yet?"

In response Kakashi just chuckles and says,

"Maa who knows."

Unfortunately for Tamari that's when Baki shows up to join them, and the subject gets changed to training.

Afterwards Baki sends the genin back to the village and turns to Kakashi with a serious look on his face.

"Hatake-san some time ago you said you wouldn't give any information about Konaha to Suna is this still true?"

Suddenly somethings clicks.

Tamari was trying to persuade him to join Suna, but not just to be there sensei. After all the Chunin exam is in three months. The same Chunin exam that was turned into an invasion after Orochimaru killed the Kazekage in order to wear his body like a second skin.

Instead of answering Baki, Kakashi asks a question of his own.

"Has the Kazekage been in a meeting with Orochimaru by chance?"

His fellow jonin suddenly loses color.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow What a lovely response to Kakashi filling out paperwork lol
> 
> Temari was asked to help persuade Kakashi, only because nobody wanted to try asking Gaara lol.
> 
> HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone.  
> THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL THE AMAZING COMMENTS AND KUDOS.


	43. plans

Chap 43

"How did you- no never mind I don’t want to know how you found out Orochimaru approached us. I just need to know if you're willing to give some information about Konoha."

"Information for an invasion?"

"……You know don't you?"

"Do I know that Orochimaru is planning to use Suna in his attack on Konoha and try to kill the Hokage? Yes I do. I also know that if your Kazekage went to meet with him then Rasa is most likely dead and the man you just got out of a meeting with was Orochimaru wearing his skin."

If possible Baki pales further and stamper out a,

"W-what?"

Kakashi would take pity on the man but he did kill Hayate in a different life so Kakashi just continues on.

"Orochimaru is a skilled man, he's also a sick man. Konoha chased him out because of his unethical experiments on the human body. He has the ability to wear another like a second skin and then discard it like the snake he is when he's through with it. Rumor has it that he's keeping himself young by switching host bodies."

He takes a breath and then looks Baki directly in the eyes,

"We need to act now before Orochimaru causes even more damage."

It takes a few seconds for the meaning of Kakashi's words to sink in.

"You want to attack him."

"No, I want to kill him. If the Kazekage is already dead-"

"He isn't."

"…He isn't?"

"No. Orochimaru only sent a messenger last week, their supposed to have a face to face meeting tomorrow."

"Cancel it. Tell him an emergency came up."

"Like what?"

"Like a missing-nin kidnapped the Kazekage's children."

Baki just sort of stares at him for a few minutes.

"And what are we supposed to tell him after that? That we've changed our minds about invading the village that's been stealing our missions?"

Kakashi takes a moment to think this problem over but eventually comes up with a workable solution.

"No go along with it, proceed to make plans to invade Konoha."

"What? You don’t care if we invade Konoha?"

"I do actually. What I'm telling you is to use Orochimaru's plan against him. Warn Konoha, help them set up a trap for the Sanin, fight with them instead of against. Make them grateful, show them you are their ally."

"….that might actually work."

"Of course it will."

"But how do we convince the Kazekage?"

"Oh don’t worry I'll do that when I see him tomorrow."

Baki gives him a look, one that clearly says he’s questioning Kakashi’s sanity…..what little the copy-nin may have left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im super excited to see your responses to this chapter  
> Im not actually sure when Oro killed the Kazekage in canon but for now we'll say it was in the first meeting  
> Baki is in fact questioning Kakashi's sanity.....and his own for going along with it lol  
> Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving  
> THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WONDERFUL COMMENTS AND KUDOS, they always brighten my day :D  
> Edit : Thank you to 'BurlesqueHamster' for pointing out a mistake for me. I appreciate the help :D


	44. Willing Kidnapping

Chap 44

Bright and early the next morning, long before the sun even rises, Kakashi uses his sharingan eye to teleport right to the balcony of the Kage residence. He expects the trip to wear him out, or at least make him tired, but there was no such thing. In fact, his eye barley even hurts after the use. Which is odd but Kakashi has no time to dwell on it as he enters the building and heads straight to Gaaras room.

The red head is already awake when Kakashi knocks on the half open door.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hello Gaara-kun would you like to come with me for a bit?"

The red head tilts his head to the side thinking for a moment,

"Are Tamari and Kankuro coming too?"

"If they want to."

"Are we coming back?"

"Yep, your Father's going to come pick you up."

"ok"

And with that they go to Tamari next. The girl grumbles a bit about being woken up but yawns and tells them to go wake Kankuro while she changes.

Kankuro yelps and tries to attack them with a puppet but when he sees who it was he just huffs and grumbles and then asks if they’re getting breakfast first.

Kakashi hands him a ration bar.

"You're surprisingly cooperative." He tells them as they all slipped out the window.

"Baki-sensei warned us last night that you might be coming." Tamari answers back.

"Last night? It's still night Tamari, I'm losing precious sleep because of this. Couldn't you just make an appointment like everyone else?" Kankuro complains aloud. At least the boy isn't acting scared of being kidnapped.

Half an hour later Kakashi set's up a small camp at the nearest unoccupied oasis and lays his bedroll out for the kids to catch some more sleep, only Kankuro takes him up on his offer.

Tamari once again tries to persuade him to join Suna, listing all it’s great values, which apparently include roasted scorpion tail deliciousness. When that fails, she starts asking him about different techniques he'd run into being a missing nin and how he countered them when he was attacked. Gaara simply makes himself comfortable by leaning into Kakashi's side and listening as his sister fires off a million and one questions.

By morning light Kakashi can see the Kazekage with a group of Anbu and Baki heading in his direction. The Anbu split off and surrounded them in a lose circle about a mile out while Baki and Rasa simply walked forward.

"Yo." Kakashi greets with an eye smile.

"Kankuro wake up! Dad's here!" Tamari yells at her brother before kicking him out of the bed roll. Gaara simply watches his sibling interact with each other before getting up and turning to Kakashi for his customary head pat and then joining Baki at his father's side. Kankuro and Tamari join him, continuing to squabble as all four walk to the Anbu line.

Then it was just the Kazekage and Kakashi at his little camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Baki did warn that Kakashi may try to kidnap them, he told the genin, Rasa and even a few fellow ninja.....nobody but the genin took him seriously :D  
> Temari has taken it as a challenge to see if she can persuade Kakashi a bit, she knows it's not working but she enjoys talking about her village and Kakashi truly doesnt mind listening lol  
> As always THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL COMMENTS AND KUDOS !!!!


	45. Rasa's Headache

Chap 45

Rasa sits down on the log across from the missing nin who kidnapped his children and wonders just what he’s getting himself into.  
Baki had warned him last night that Hatake was planning to kidnap his kids in order to get a meeting, but Rasa had paid it little attention. He hadn’t thought it possible for a single ninja to enter the heart of his territory and escape without injury or alarm…apparently he thought wrong.

So now Rasa’s here listening as Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan tells him about Orochimaru and his ability to hide in another person's skin. He listens as the missing nin explains that he knows of the invasion plan, (and no Baki didn’t tell me I actually knew about it before he did so rest at ease.). He listens as the man who has been hailed as a genius tells him of a plan to work with the Snake Sanin and also strengthen Suna's ties to Konoha.

At the end Rasa can only agree, because really what choice does he have?

The man before him is one of Konoha's top missing nin. ( And what is Konoha doing that all there geniuses go missing nin on them? Hatake, the Uchiha boy, not to mention Orochimaru.) He is also a teacher to Rasa's children and has made it very clear that if Rasa intends to go through with the Snakes plan he will not be helping Suna.

Rasa is also not about to deny that having this man as an ally has had more benefit for Suna already and continued association can only help. (Plus the fact that all three of his children may actually try to kill him should he even hint at harming the copy-nin)

With that decision made Kakashi gives him what is probably a smile using his only visible eye before waving at Baki and the kids, who wave back, and tells Rasa he'll be in touch.  
Then the man pops into a cloud of dust and Rasa is left wondering how long he's been talking to a shadow clone.

With a heavy sigh he stands and makes his way over to Baki and his Anbu guards, the later of whom are looking around and clearly on edge after Hatake's ‘escape’.

"Kazakage-sama." Baki greets and all four turns with him to head back to the village.

Along the way Rasa has the chance to actually look at his children, something that he hasn't done in years.  
What he sees surprises him.

Temari is no longer a little girl but a skilled Konoichi, walking with her back straight and constantly checking her surrounds even as they pass the village gates. Kankuro has pulled a small puppet out of who knows where and is tinkering away as they walk, taking his cues from Temari and Gaara about where to step so as not to run into anything. And Gaara…..Gaara is the one that surprises him the most.

The madness has reduced in his eyes, the sand is not stirring under his feet ready to kill, he is watching his siblings and Baki with a bit of fascination and wonder.

Rasa wonders just what Hatake did to his children in such a short time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow everyone really like the willing kidnapping :D  
> the sand Anbu are indeed freaking out and Baki is just kinda done lol  
> THANK YOU FOR ALL THE AMAZING COMMENTS AND KUDOS :D))))


	46. Introducing....

Chap 46

Kakashi is on his way back to Konoha again,( what can he say, he misses his genin) when he hears the familiar sound of battle. Without much thought he summons the pack to do a little scouting and slowly makes his way undetected toward the noise.

By the time he can see the figures locked in battle Pakkun is back to give a report.

"Looks like Rock ninja ambushing a pair of Leaf Chunin." The pug says softly and Kakashi takes a second to thank him before jumping into the fight himself. He maybe a missing nin to them, but he’s still going to protect Konoha.

The rock ninja outnumber the chunin five to two, with only a few traps keeping the Konoha ninja from being overwhelmed.

Then Kakashi puts a Chidori through the biggest ninja's heart and the tide of the battle turns.

Kakashi lets the chunin take care of one rock nin while he engages the other three. He's not trying to brag, but he doesn’t even have to reveal his sharingan before the whole fight is over and he's standing over the bodies. Some of which might still be breathing.

Then he's looking at the alarmed faces Iruka Umino and Kaito Yamanaka.

"Yo" Kakashi greets with a jaunty wave that seems to set the poor chunin even more on edge …tho that might be the blood splatter he accidentally just flicked off his fingers …hmmm oops.

The chunin don’t move from their defensible position so Kakashi takes the opportunity to start searching through the downed shinobi's belongings.

(What he's a missing nin, his supplies have to come from somewhere.)

He sorts the bandages to one side and kuni to the other, out of the chunin reach because he's not stupid, and tucks the latest version of the bingo book into his very battered vest.

When he pulls a decorative scroll off one of the still breathing bodies Iruka makes a chocked noise and then looks like he immediately regrets it when Kakashi's attention focuses in on him.

"Something wrong Umino-sensei?" he asks in a lazy drawl that has both men tensing up and giving him weary looks. Is he really that scary?

"Ho-how do you know my name?" Iruka stampers out instead of answering.

"Maa you're Naruto's favorite teacher of course." And just like that the nervous stuttering is gone and Iruka straightens his spine before staring him in the eye.

"What do you know about Naruto?" the chunin practically demands.

Kakashi can't help but chuckle at Iruka's mother henning, even a light threat to the boy and this little teacher would try tackling a bijuu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this little plot bunny bit came out of no were but i'm gonna roll with it, Kakashi's on his way to see his precious genin and just hops right into trouble ;p  
> oh and Kaito is an oc, just fyi.
> 
> THANK YOU ALL FOR SO MANY AMAZING COMMENTS AND KUDOS THIS YEAR, you have all made my year brighter with your positivity and kindness.
> 
> MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	47. Iruka Umino

Chapter 47

Iruka can't help the shiver that goes down his spine as the missing nin laughs at him.

This man is one of konoha's top S-rank ninja and Iruka is a mere chunin teacher, of course the man is laughing at him.

But Iruka doesn't back down.

He knows that team 5 -errr team 7 ran into this ninja, it's all over the mission room, and even if it wasn’t, Naruto waylaid him at Ichiruka's before his own mission to show off the new book the man supposedly gave him. Even with all the praise the blonde had for the man Iruka had his reservations, I mean the man was a missing nin for crying out loud, but he may have been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Especially since the rumors out of T&I say he lost his memory.

But he just saw the man take down four of the five opponents he and Kaito had been facing in less than three minutes, then give them a little greeting while flicking the blood off his fingers. Clearly this man was not sane, but really what missing nin was?

And on a side note, what was it with Naruto and having traitors for teachers. First Misuki, then Hiazaki, now Hatake? Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but THREE TIMES??? Yeah, that’s a pattern.

Speaking of patterns…the scroll that Hatake had pulled from the dead- umm defeated opponent was the one Iruka's team had been originally sent to retrieve. Before they were ambushed on the way home and lost their third teamma-

That thought is cut short when Hatake stops laughing and looks at Iruka once more.

"Maa maa little sensei, I'm not gonna harm Naruto, or any of my cute little genin."

"And I'm supposed to just take your word on that?"

"hmmm I swear on my sensei's devoured soul that I will never intentionally harm his son or any other children in my care…how's that?"

_What?!?_

"W-what?!"

"... I swear o-"

"I heard you I just don’t understand …why?"

"Maa does it really matter?" He countered with and Iruka was thrown for loop. Of course it mattered!

Just as he was about to start shouting at the missing nin like he was one of his stubborn students, Kaito speaks up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iruka may have a slight concussion here lol  
> Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas 
> 
> Happy New Year!!!  
> Thank you all for all of your wonderful support for this story, you are amazing and I can't thank you all enough. I look forward to Next Year 😊


	48. And Kaito Yamanaka

Chapter 48

"Pardon me Hatake-san, but are you planning on doing anything with that scroll?" Kaito politely asks the Copy-cat before Iruka can start yelling.

I mean really Iruka? The man is an S-rank Missing-nin that managed to hide for two years and recently took on three of konoha's best jonin. Don’t Tick Him Off!

"Maa this scroll Yamanaka-san?" the one-eyed man asks, lightly tossing the mission objective in the air.

The same scroll that Rukia died for.

-No don’t think about it! Compartmentalize! You can think of her and the literal bomb of information after the S-rank threat is gone!-

"Yes." Kaito answers shortly. He knows you’re not supposed to tell the enemy that they have something you want but right now he's just trying to keep himself and his last teammate alive, and if he can negotiate peacefully for the scroll then so be it.

"Maa I might trade for it." The Copy-nin answers and Kaito's heart skips a beat. Great now he's got the guys attention, but what can he possibly offer him? kuni? Bandages? He just raided those things off the rock ninja.

"What would you trade for?" he asks a little desperately and tries not to let it show. The man could honestly just take what he wants really, he just pointed out his teacher was the Fourth Hokage and he knows secrets the village would rather stay buried- Focus!-

"Do you have any Akimichi food pills?" the S-rank threat asks.

"Yes!"

"I'll take those." Hatake says and waits patiently while Kaito gets them out of his vest. Once Hatake sees the pale pink pills he tosses the scroll to Iruka with a short warning of,

"Catch sensei."

Then holds his hand open for the pills.

And because Kaito is Not an idiot he tosses them to the man and then grabs Iruka's wrist and starts running as fast as he can toward Konoha.

He is so done with this mission.

***

Kakashi watches the two chunin disappear into the distance with an eyebrow raised.

Was he really that scary?

Oh well, he'd send the pack to make sure they got back into Konoha safely.

At least he got Akimichi food pills out of the ordeal.

But what was he supposed to do with the Rock ninja?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW! Apparently a lot of people liked the line "I swear on my sensei's devoured soul" lol
> 
> It was pointed out by a few people that a leak in T&I might be a bit bad so well just say that Iruka is in a unique position to hear this rumor. He works in the mission room, near the Hokage, he teaches children who's parents are in T&I and he's close to Naruto who cant keep his mouth shut so I think it's possible for him to put the pieces together. I hope it seems plausible.  
> Thanks to those who pointed out the plot hole, I'll try to do better about them in the future.
> 
> ALSO!!! Most_Likely_Satan has posted all their wonderful funny comments all in one place if anyone would like to check them out here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28245126/comments/377860680  
> (sorry didn't realize the link didn't pop up)
> 
> THANK YOU ALL for your amazing comments and kudos :D


	49. Best day ever!

Chapter 49

Naruto's heading home from the training grounds when he sees a familiar person walking down the street.

"SUKEA-SAN!" he greets loudly and nearly tackles the man before he remembers Sakura's lecture on civilian vs ninja behavior.

He skids to a stop right in front of the man who gives him that easy smile that Naruto never gets tired of seeing and a warm greeting.

"Hello Naruto, what are you up to today?"

"I've been tree climbing believe it!"

"Really? It sounds like you’re enjoying it a lot more now that you've gotten a new sensei."

"uh-huh. Kakashi-sensei's way better than that jerk Hiato."

"That's good to hear. Oh speaking of ninja stuff I have some cool ninja pictures for your team to look at tomorrow if you want."

"Cool Ninja pictures?! That sounds great wait til I tell Sakura and Sasuke! Can I see them now?"

"hahaha why don’t you wait on your team ok? I promise they're not going anywhere."

"Aww man but I wanna seeeeeee."

"How about I buy you ramen instead ok?"

"YAY RAMEN!!"

Naruto grabs Sukea's hand and makes sure to gently start dragging the laughing man toward Ichiruka's.

Today is turning out to be a great day.

First, he finished the book Kakashi-sensei gave him, then he got to train with his team, and now he's going to eat his favorite food with one his favorite people.

He chants all the way to Ichiraku's where he barges in and sets on the stool loudly telling Ichiraku and Ayame his and Sukea's orders. Making sure to tell them extra eggplant for Sukea.

As his first bowl is placed in front of him another good thing happens that day.

"Ah Naruto-kun Sukea-san it's good to see you." Iruka sensei greets from behind him and Naruto decides to leap off his stool to give his favorite teacher (besides Kakashi-sensei of course) a hug tackle. Arms immediately wrap around him and Naruto feels warmth fill him at the return hug.

"Iruka Sensei!"

"Wha be careful Naruto. You almost knocked Sukea-san off his stool." Iruka-sensei warns and there’s a strange look in the teachers eyes for a second but it falls away at the light scolding.

"oh opps sorry." He turns around immediately and apologizes to the civilian like Sakura taught him to do. Sukea just laughs and greets Iruka-sensei before going back to his ramen. Naruto hops back onto his stool as the two men start talking.

Yeah, today was the best day ever!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Naruto said the old sensei’s name wrong on purpose, he’s copying Kakashi lol  
> Yes Iruka just got out of a very long meeting with the Hokage and got some questions answered (this will pop up later) and he knows who Naruto belongs to know, but he quickly realizes that this is still the same Naruto so he resolves not to treat him any different. He’s also low key going to have a panic later about running into a missing nin but that will be in the safety of his home and off screen
> 
> On another note I'm so glad you all liked Kaito -I have self-preservation - Yamanaka. I might have to drop him back in the story in the future :D
> 
> THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WONDERFUL COMMENTS AND KUDOS they always brighten my day :D


	50. Surprise Sasuke

Chap 50

Sasuke lays on the training ground as he waits for his teammates to arrive. He had a two hour training session with Might Gai this morning and he's not planning to move again until he absolutely has too.

Stupid 'nice guy' poses and un-freakin- breakable genjutsu backgrounds, and stupid 'youth'!

Sasuke is pulled out of his internal rant when he hears Naruto's voice drawing closer. He manages to turn his head to see the blonde talking to the photographer from a week ago.

Why was Naruto brining a civilian to the training grounds? Ugh this is why he calls the other boy a dobe.

"Hey Teme, guess what! Sukea's got some ninja pictures for us to look at believe it!"

Sasuke would grumble at the blonde but that would require way more energy than he's currently able to muster.

Naruto continues to run his mouth but Sasuke's stops paying attention, it's too much work right now.

Suddenly there's a finger poking at his cheek and Naruto stands over him with a pout on his face.

"Hey, Are you even listening to me?"

"Hn."

"Teme!"

Before Sasuke can decide if it's worth it to try moving Sakura's voice comes across the training ground.

"Sasuke, Naruto, oh Hello Sukea-san I didn’t know you were back in the village." she greets them all.

"Hello there Sakura-chan. I just got back yesterday and had some pictures to show all of you." The man responds back.

Sasuke remains on the ground and thoroughly uninterested as his teammates crowd around the man when he pulls them out of his bag.

There's a noise from Naruto and a small gasp from Sakura that has his attention focused on his teammates again.

"Sasuke, you're going to want to see this." Sakura says just below her usual volume without looking away from the first picture.

Sasuke frowns at them but the dobe's gone quiet and Sakura's still not looking at him. This behavior startles Sasuke enough that he musters up the energy to raise, walk over, and look over Naruto's shoulder at the picture.

The picture of Kakashi-sensei eye-smiling at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So glad you all enjoyed the last chapter :D  
> Yep Sasuke has started training with Gai...he only barely avoided being stuck in a green jump suit. 😜
> 
> THANK YOU all for the wonderful comments and kudos they always brighten my day :D
> 
> Edit: Quite a few people pointed out that i probably should have put eye smiling at the end to cut down on confusion. Thank you guys for the help :D


	51. Pictures

Chap 51

Kakashi tries so hard not to snicker at the looks on his genin's faces as they look through the stack of specially made pictures that is his undisguised clone-self going through different sets of a Kata and hand signs for a few beginner jutsu.

"..how?" Sasuke eventually manages to ask after Sakura points out the numbers at the bottom of each photo and find the order the poses are supposed to go.

Sukea just shrugs at his question and gives the Uchiha a sweet innocent smile.

"Would you guys be interested in keeping these pictures?" he asks and laughs when Naruto immediately yells 'yes' and Sasuke jerks back rubbing his newly abused ear drum.

Ah how he's missed his team.

Now to see if they'll take the pictures to the Hokage or actually use them.

To his surprise Sakura is the one who takes charge, telling the boys that they'll practice with them now, just to get the basic forms and signs down and then they have to tell the Hokage.

"What? Why do we have to tell Jiji?" Naruto asks but Sasuke looks close to agreeing with the blonde. (ah isn't it nice to see the team bonding.)

"Because he's going to figure out eventually, we aren't good enough to hide them yet, especially with how the Hokage has been watching us lately." Sakura reasons to the boys and both begrudgingly concede to her judgement.

Kakashi feels pride swell in his chest as he watches all three take turns looking at the pictures and copying the poses, correcting each other when they see something wrong. And if Sukea points out a few mistakes of his own, well, he was there to take the pictures of course he'd know what the next move is. 

While the kids are practicing Kakashi lays a few timed seals on the three training posts and sets them to release at various times. He can't wait to see what reaction it will get from the Hokage and the council, after all some of it will be very incrementing evidence against a certain councilor.

Hmmm Maybe he should raid another Root base before he leaves…after all Sai was also part of Team 7.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow looks like everyone enjoyed Kakashi's pic, I did go back and change it to eye-smile to help lower confusion.  
> Sorry for the shorter chapter, I have different hours at work this week and nearly forgot about this fic. 
> 
> THANK YOU for all the amazing comments and kudos, they always make my day 😊


	52. Finding a stray

Chap 52

Sukea is gone from Konoha by that afternoon and Kakashi finds himself already longing to head back.

Sukea is bound to be arrested the second he steps into Konoha again and the identity is about to be thoroughly investigated.

Not that they’ll find anything out of the ordinary but now the photographer will be on Konohas watch list. However, Kakashi knew the risks when he decided to make the photos for his genin. (His Genin, it feels so good to say it.)

Kakashi is drawn out of his thoughts by the heavy sent of blood on the air. Curious, he turns to hunt down its source.

It takes him no time at all to find a young Konoha Konichi leaning against a tree with a large wound in her side and several smaller ones running all over her body.

She is breathing heavily and her face is flushed red with fever, she doesn’t even react as he begins slowly approaching her from a distance.

He is nearly within striking distance of her when the woman’s head finally tilts up.

Her face is lined with wounds, including one that cuts from the edge of her left eyebrow, across her nose, threw her lip, over her chin and past the right side of her throat. Another cuts just below her closed left eye nearly bisecting her face all the way through her right ear. The last is simple downward strike, slashing on the far back of her left cheek.

The wound looks to be bleeding sluggishly and a green puss is forming over her left eye. But then her right eye blurrily focuses on Kakashi’s headband and relief slips into her whole being.

“I made it home.” She whispers and then her only open eye rolls back in her head and Kakashi has to move fast to catch her before she hits the ground.

That’s when Kakashi realizes this woman didn’t see the slash in his head band, didn’t realize who he was, and didn’t realize she was not actually safely home.

He also realizes that the woman is far more injured than he first thought, must have been running on fumes and determination, and only wanted to get home.

Well, Kakashi can relate to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY!!!!!!  
> I know I haven't replied to any comments this week and I apologies, I promise I'll get to them soon. I've been training for a new position lately and it completely skipped my mind. I just barley remembered to post this today in fact.
> 
> Once again I apologize and I promise to reply soon, thank you all for you wonderful comments and kudos


	53. familiar stranger

Chap 53

Yami Inzuku is patrolling behind his Anbu Mask when a familiar scent tickles his nose.

He halts immediately and his team follows suit. The last time Yami caught this scent it had been left on three rescued genin. It is the scent of one Hatake Kakashi, and it is far too close to Konoha for his liking.

With a few hand signs he orders his team to stay alert and tells them there is a possible S-rank hostile nearby.

They all immediately fall into formation B and alter their course for the source of the sent.

The air is also heavy with the metallic smell of blood….lots of it.

With any luck the blood will be Hatake’s, but Yami’s not holding out to much hope for that. He’s lucks never been that good after all.

Bat is the first to spot something amiss.

That something being a pug wearing a blue vest with a very familiar Hemohemoheji scribbled on it’s back.

Surprisingly the dog doesn’t charge them, or bark an alert.

Instead it trots along a branch and stops a respectable six feet away before raising a paw in greeting.

“Yo. Do you have a medic on your team?” he asks and Yami has half a mind to throw a jutsu at the pug for even thinking that they would willingly help out a MISSING nin.

But it’s a good thing Yami has his impulses under control because the next sentence out of his mouth has Yami’s reconsidering that thought.

“Boss found a konoha Konoichi trying to get home. She’s not in good shape.”

Rabbit steps forward with caution and the pug gives her a once over before turning and walking away. Yami gives Rabbit the signal to follow while the rest of them fall into a half circle behind her.

He’s prepared for a trap but something in his gut says ‘no’ and Yami’s gut is rarely wrong.

When they finally come across Hatake he’s kneeling over the body of a konochi, her headband is from konoha but Yami would be hard pressed to identify her with more than half her face wrapped in bandages.

Hatake doesn’t even bother looking up at their arrival instead he seems to be focused on a wound in the konichis side. His hands are wrapped in pale green chakara and Yami wonders when Hatake learned medical jutsu.

The man only acknowledges Rabbit when she kneels down beside him and starts taking over. Her own medic jutsu a far brighter green than Hatake’s had been.

“I found her three hours ago on her way home. She passed out shortly later, I have no name or rank but I believe her to be mid-chunin. Her face has the most damage but the wounds on her stomach and back are what's killing her. I extracted the poison from her wounds then bandaged them with the salve I have on hand. It’s not the best but it should stop infection. I’ve been working on her stomach but my medic skills are mediocre at best so instead of trying to close the wound I was trying to keep any infection down and remove any remaining poison.”

Yami blinks a few times at all the information tumbling out of the copy-nin’s mouth and wonders when the man got this chatty. Then he sees the bandages and salves near Hatake’s hip and realizes that a missing-nin used his own valuable supplies on a Konoha shinobi.

He’s not sure what to think of that for a moment.

Then he remembers his rookie days as an Anbu and a FUBAR mission in Kiri when Captain Hound gave him his own food bar instead of eating it himself.

The memory is still not gonna stop Yami from apprehending Hatake……or at least trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! Seriously thank you all so much for the sweet kudos and comments. Your encouraging words and excitement make my day so much better!
> 
> I love how everyone was wondering how she was going to react but I'm throwing Yami at you out of left field and I cant wait to see how you all react.  
> Yes we will find out who the Konoichi is eventually but it's gonna be like ten? or so chapters. 
> 
> Also WARNING, my seven year old laptop has started to slow down and is prone to crashing (no joke it took thirty minutes to turn it on yesterday morning, I timed it!) so if there is no update one week and you receive no notice why then please assume that the poor thing has finally died and i'll update as soon as i can, apologies in advance.


	54. Catching Hatake...or at least Trying

Chap 54

Yami waits until Hatake is just far enough away from Rabbit and her patient to get a body in-between them before he leaps into action.

A quick body flicker puts him directly in front of Kakashi were he strikes out with a kunai to the man’s shoulder (he would have aimed at the throat but he doesn’t want him dead yet, just apprehended)

Kakashi of course just bends over backwards to avoid it and Yami finds himself dodging a foot to his face. The other Anbu take their cue from Yami and start trying to apprehend the famed Copy-nin.

It does Not go as planned.

First off Hatake is former Anbu himself so he knows everything they know (formation, hand signs, weapons, weaknesses, you name it).

Second he was also an Anbu Captain and has the strength and intelligence to back that up. (He was the best dang Captain Yami ever had that’s for sure.)

Third…..the man is way more powerful that he remembers and seems to quite literally be dancing around their attacks. (Where in the Sage’s name did Hatake find time to train when he was on the run?!)

At some point Kakashi makes a shadow clone, not to help him fight against them, but to correct Badger’s sword stance, and tell Falcon his chakra flow is getting interrupted and he should get that looked at, and ask Rabbit how the patient is doing of all things.

Yami wonders if Hatake lost his mind along with his memory.

******

Kakashi barley manages to dodge Yami’s next attack of an earth jutsu, before switching places with a convenient log and then sliding through Badgers legs (hey he told the man to correct his stance, not his fault if the man didn’t listen.)

He’s trying to come up with an escape plan that doesn’t involve killing or maiming his fellow Anbu. His clone has been distracting them pretty well so far and the pack is making sure that the fighting stays away from the injured chunnin, but he’s not sure how much longer he can keep this up.

He needs a distraction.

Luckily his clone is thinking the same thing.

With a swift body flicker, it folds it’s fingers and takes aim.

Then shouts, “A THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH”, before hitting Badger right in his posterior. (What? The guy had to learn to correct his stance somehow.)

As everyone quietly stares in disbelief at his clone and their poor incapacitated teammate Kakashi slips behind a tree and activates Kamui. Dismissing the pack as he too disappears into another dimension.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the response to Yami appearing lol Nobody thought he'd actually bring Kakashi in unless Kakashi wanted to go and the comments were Fabulous lol  
> You all made my WEEK!
> 
> And yes Yami knows about the rumors out of T&I, he's keeping tabs on the reports since he was the one who found the genin.
> 
> Sorry about the spelling mistakes and grammar errors from last chapter, I was in a bit of a rush, hopefully this chapter is a little better.
> 
> As always THANK YOU for the amazing comments and kudos :D 
> 
> Oh and just to let everyone know, the laptop is still alive and kicking, but now the fan is making noise if it's not turned at the right angle. He's getting finicky in his old age lol.
> 
> Edit: Thanks to all the nice people who pointed out my spelling and grammar errors this chapter, I appreciate the help :D


	55. Hiruzen Migraine 1 and Iruka

Chap 55

The Hokage rubs his temples as he stares at the mess of reports on his desk all connected to one Hatake Kakashi.

First there’s the resent reports from there spy in Suna about a kidnapping concerning Rasa’s children. The spy says there was no major fight and no one was harmed, but the Suna Anbu are on edge. The Kazekage’s children however seem perfectly fine and even happy about the whole encounter.

Hiruzen may not believe the last part, except he has three children who would also be perfectly happy being kidnapped by the same missing nin.

Really what is it with children and this man?

The next reports is from two chunin returning from a C-rank scroll retrieval mission. That was a headache all by itself with Iruka involved. Kaito at least belonged to the Yamanaka and could be send to his clan head for answers. Iruka however came straight to him. Answering the questions about Minato had been hard….Answering the questions about Naruto had been harder.

Calming the Chunin down afterward had been near impossible.

And lastly followed the reports from an Anbu team who encountered his current migraine on patrol.

Apparently Hatake had learned Medical jutsu, and an …interesting technic. Poor Badger wouldn’t be able to sit straight for a week. (The poor boy might as well have died a thousand times from embarrassment during the report alone.)

On another note the head trauma theory is looking more likely. The fact that Kakashi has helped out not only a vulnerable genin team but also an injured chunin seems to speak of continued loyalty to the village….on the other hand he still attacked Raido, Genma and Aoba.

On the other, other hand he was attacked first and had been hired to protect the caravan.

He’s also been assisting sand nin and sneaking around the village unseen.

But it’s to talk to his genin….who really shouldn’t be his genin.

Hiruzen gives up on figuring out the missing nin for the day and debates adding something stronger to his pipe.

******

Iruka walks away from the ramen stand with a sigh, he was hoping to catch Naruto again today but it seems the boy was busy.

After the encounter with Hatake Iruka was feeling rather protective of the boy, and that was before the Hokage confirmed that Naruto was the son of Minato Namikaze … Kakashi Hatake’s jonin teacher.

Seeing the boy yesterday after the revelation had been a bit jarring, but then he realized that Naruto was the same boy he’d always been, it was just Iruka’s view of him that had changed.

“Iruka-sensei?” A familiar voice called to him, as he turned the corner to the market.

“Ah Sakura, what are you up to today?”

“Well, I was wondering if you have a moment to help me with something sensei?”

Iruka blinked, it wasn’t often his students came to him for help after they were out of the academy but then Iruka realized she probably didn’t have anyone else to ask right now.

“Of course Sakura what is it?” hopefully it had nothing to do with a certain missing ninja.

“Do you know of any scrolls or books to recommend for learning diplomacy?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW you guys really like Kakashi's special technic there lol  
> Yes poor Badger will be alright...physically at least.
> 
> Iruka did not actually figure out who Sukea is or even have a clue, the look a few chapters ago was actually because of what he learned about Naruto :D
> 
> Hiruzen is not having a good time lol
> 
> THANK YOU guys so much for the hilarious comments and kudos :D

**Author's Note:**

> So i'm supposed to be working on my other time-travel fic, but this idea wouldn't leave me alone. And since I had a good bit outlined I figured I'd go ahead and post it.  
> The chapters are probably gonna be short but I plan to post at least once a week (probably on Monday). 
> 
> That said thank you to WhisperingDarkness for giving permission to use your idea. This was very much inspired by their story Nukenin and DuskBeforeDawn's story Nidaime Otokage.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy :D


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